Chuck Hagel will be stepping down as secretary of defense,
The New York Times reports, saying the threat from and response to ISIS demands a different set of skills than Hagel demonstrates. President Obama is expected to make an announcement Monday.
A Republican with military experience who was skeptical about the Iraq war, Mr. Hagel came in to manage the Afghanistan combat withdrawal and the shrinking Pentagon budget in the era of budget sequestration.
But now "the next couple of years will demand a different kind of focus," one administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. He insisted that Mr. Hagel was not fired, saying that he initiated discussions about his future two weeks ago with the president, and that the two men mutually agreed that it was time for him to leave. […]
Even before the announcement of Mr. Hagel’s removal, Obama officials were speculating on his possible replacement. At the top of the list are Michèle Flournoy, the former under secretary of defense; Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and a former officer with the Army’s 82nd Airborne; and Ashton B. Carter, a former deputy secretary of defense.
Hagel and the White House haven't been on the same page on ISIS since this summer, when Obama had likened the terrorist group to a junior varsity basketball team and Hagel called it an "'imminent threat to every interest we have,' adding, 'This is beyond anything that we’ve seen.'" His other issues articulating administration policy to the press have been ongoing problems for the White House, the
Times reports.
As a replacement Reed might be among the easiest to confirm under a Republican Senate, as senators generally extend more courtesy toward colleagues. However, that tradition was broken by Senate Republicans when they filibustered Hagel, the first time a president's pick for defense secretary was blocked.
