Major change: Under pressure, Pentagon chief Hagel steps down

The US defence secretary will remain in the job until a successor is found.

WASHINGTON:

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel resigned on Monday, the first major change to President Barack Obama’s cabinet since his Democrats were routed in mid-term elections three weeks ago.

The rapid advance of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq forced the Pentagon chief into managing a complex campaign, and Obama concluded Hagel was not the man for the task. The 68-year-old Vietnam war veteran joined Obama at the White House to confirm his departure.

Hagel will remain in the job until a successor is in place. Hagel was appointed less than two years ago as Obama pushed his signature programme of winding up wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a process that is being upended this year with US re-engagement in Iraq and greater military cooperation with Kabul.

Both Obama and Hagel presented the decision as mutually agreed, but administration officials privately suggested he had been pushed out, while Obama’s critics said Hagel had become frustrated.

The former Republican senator, who had struggled to improve his ties with Congress after a contentious 2013 confirmation hearing, submitted his resignation letter after lengthy discussions with Obama that began in October, officials said. Obama said at the White House event that Hagel had always been candid with his advice and had “always given it to me straight.” Hagel raised questions about Obama’s strategy toward Syria in a two-page internal policy memo that leaked this fall. In it, he warned that Obama’s policy was in jeopardy due to its failure to clarify its intentions toward Syrian President Bashar al Assad.  Obama has insisted that the United States can go after Islamic State militants without addressing Assad, who the United States would like to leave power.

Officials said Obama wanted fresh leadership during the final two years of his administration. “What I can tell you is there are no policy differences in the background of this decision,” a senior US defence official said.

“The secretary is not resigning in protest and he’s not being ‘fired’,” the official said. Top potential candidates to replace Hagel include Michele Flournoy, a former undersecretary of defence, and Ashton Carter, a former deputy secretary of defence, who were rumoured to be contenders for Hagel’s job before he was named. Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, is another possible contender.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2014.