Hagel Tenders Resignation as U.S. Defense Secretary

Former Republican senator and Vietnam war veteran Chuck Hagel resigned as U.S. defense secretary on November 24, having served less than two years in the post. He has agreed to stay on until the Senate confirms a successor.

Hagel is the first cabinet-level officer to leave the Obama administration since the president’s Democratic Party lost control of the Senate in the mid-term elections earlier this month, and as the administration copes with multiple foreign-policy crises. President Barack Obama reportedly asked him to step down over policy differences.

Obama announced the resignation at the White House, saying that Hagel served during a “significant period of transition” that included the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and continuing fiscal constraints. Hagel later issued a statement addressed to Department of Defense personnel. “You should know I did not make this decision lightly,” he said. “But after much discussion, the President and I agreed that now was the right time for new leadership here at the Pentagon.”

Hagel took office in February 2013 as the third defense secretary to serve under Obama, following Leon Panetta and Robert Gates.

In a separate statement after the announcement, U.S. Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, praised Hagel and criticized the White House. “Chuck Hagel was an excellent defense secretary and a friend. He was given a thankless task of an underfunded Defense Department, growing threats and intrusive White House micromanagement,” McKeon said. “The Obama Administration is now in the market for its fourth secretary of defense. When the President goes through three secretaries, he should ask ‘is it them, or is it me?’”