WASHINGTON—Former Sen. Charles “Chuck” Hagel (R-Neb.), President Barack Obama’s choice for U.S. secretary of defense, is likely to be approved in the Senate next week, but John Brennan, nominee for Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, may have to wait.
The delays have been credited to concerns about both nominations, but the legitimacy of those concerns has been clouded by politics.
“Politics has been something of an issue during the recent confirmation hearings,” wrote Jennifer Marsico, senior research associate with the D.C.-based think tank American Enterprise Institute, in an email.
Marsico believes that there are legitimate areas of concern about both nominations.
“Concerns about Hagel and Brennan are understandable and valid,” she wrote. “For men who would be confirmed to extremely high national foreign policy and national security positions, it is crucial that they be vetted completely.”
Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) conceded that politics has been a contributing factor in the delays. He said that there is a lot of “ill will” toward Hagel within Republican ranks. Hagel, also a Republican, criticized George W. Bush during his presidency and vocally opposed the U.S. troop surge in Iraq in 2007.
“He was anti-his own party and people—people don’t forget that,” McCain said on Fox News.
Republican senators have also used the nomination process as leverage to gain more information about the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed. The Republicans believe that there has been an administration coverup, despite then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s insistence before a Senate hearing that there was no coverup.
Approval Likely
Hagel, 67 years old and a recipient of two Purple Hearts from the Vietnam War, represented Nebraska in the Senate for two terms from 1996 to 2008. He is chairman of the Atlantic Council and co-chairman of the president’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
The Senate voted 58–40 in his support last Thursday—just two votes short of the 60 needed to secure the nomination and thwart a filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, realizing that Hagel did not have the numbers, switched his vote to “no” at the last minute, a move that allows him to bring up the vote again.
McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), both members of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, said that they will support Hagel’s nomination when the Senate resumes after recess next week.
