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The Washington Post quotes AP sources saying that Chuck Hagel is resigning as Secretary of Defense “following a tenure in which he has struggled to break through the White House’s insular foreign policy team.”:
A senior defense official said that Hagel submitted his resignation letter to Obama on Monday morning and the president accepted it. Hagel agreed to remain in office until his successor is confirmed by the Senate, the official said.
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The official said both Hagel and Obama “determined that it was time for new leadership in the Pentagon,” adding that they had been discussing the matter over a period of several weeks.
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Obama was to announce Hagel’s resignation Monday. The president is not expected to nominate a new Pentagon chief Monday, according to one official.[..]
Hagel served in the Vietnam War and received two Purple Hearts.
I have consistently defended Chuck Hagel against equally consistent attacks by Republicans, both during the nomination process and after — especially those attacks that focused on the enlisted nature of Hagel’s military service “in order to even more reprehensibly diminish such service and experience.”
Chuck Hagel is a patriot. He will be sorely missed.
Lead photo: U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, left, greets Saudi National Guard Minister Prince Mitib bin Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud as he arrives at the Pentagon to discuss matters of mutual importance, Nov. 21, 2014. DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz
