Hagel resignation comes at tough time for US defense policy

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's resignation comes at a particularly tough time for the country's foreign and defense policy, with one war ending, another just beginning and the Pentagon struggling with the prospect of deeper budget cuts.

It also raises the prospect of policy shifts as US President Barack Obama seeks to sign up his fourth Pentagon chief in six years.

During a White House ceremony on Monday after Hagel had submitted his resignation, Obama said he and Hagel agreed it is an "appropriate time for him to complete his service". Neither the president nor Hagel cited specific reasons for the change. Hagel aides said he had initiated private talks with the president in late October but is not leaving over policy conflicts.

Hagel, 68, never broke through the White House's notoriously insular national security team. Officials privately denigrated his ability to publicly communicate administration policy, and more recently questioned his capacity to oversee new military campaigns against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

Hagel is the first high-level member of Obama's national security team to step down after both a disastrous midterm election for the president's Democratic Party and persistent criticism about the administration's policies in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Obama said Hagel agreed to continue in the job until his successor has been confirmed by the Senate next year.

The timing sets up a potential confirmation fight. Republicans, who are about to take control of the Senate, have been deeply critical of the president's foreign policy.

Among leading contenders to replace Hagel is Michele Flournoy, a Democrat who served as the Pentagon's policy chief from 2009-12. After her departure, she provided foreign policy advice to Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.

Experts note irony

Flournoy, who would be the first woman to head the Pentagon, is said to be interested in the job but is seeking assurances from the White House that she would be given greater latitude in policy-making than Hagel.

Also mentioned as a possible successor is Ashton Carter, who served as deputy defense secretary from 2011 to 2013.

With Hagel's sudden departure, Obama will be the first president since Harry S. Truman to have four defense secretaries. Hagel's predecessors, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, complained after leaving the administration about White House micromanagement and political interference in policy decisions.

Some foreign policy experts noted the irony in the White House driving out a defense secretary who largely played the role the president appeared to have been seeking. Others saw Hagel as slightly out of step with the White House.

"The focus has now shifted from budget cuts and troop withdrawals to new military action, especially in Syria and Iraq, and in the full course of that, he (Hagel) often hasn't seemed to be on the same page with the White House," said Stephen Biddle, a professor of political science at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs.

AP - AFP

(China Daily 11/26/2014 page12)