Hagel Faces Tough Questions at Nomination Hearing
Hagel's Future at Pentagon Clouded by Stormy Senate Hearing
Michael Bowman
January 31, 2013
CAPITOL HILL — Senate confirmation of President Barack Obama’s pick to be U.S. defense secretary remains uncertain after a contentious hearing before the Armed Services Committee. Former Republican senator Chuck Hagel faced hours of intense and sometimes combative questioning from one-time colleagues.
If Hagel’s goal for his confirmation hearing was to win the backing of Republican lawmakers, his exchange with Senator John McCain seemed ominous.
McCain repeatedly asked if Hagel regretted his opposition to the 2007 U.S. troop surge in Iraq.
“The question is: were you right or wrong? That is a pretty straightforward question,” he said.
Hagel declined to answer. “I am not going to give you a ‘yes or no.’ I think it is far more complicated than that. As I have already said, my answer is: I will defer that judgment to history,” he said.
McCain fired back.
“I think history has already made a judgment about the surge, sir. And you are on the wrong side of it. And your refusal to answer whether you were right or wrong is going to have an impact on my judgment as to whether to vote for your confirmation or not,” he said.
Chuck Hagel
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Chairman of the Atlantic Council public policy group
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Co-chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board
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Republican U.S. senator from 1997-2009 representing Nebraska
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Served in Vietnam in 1968, where he earned two Purple Hearts
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Born in 1946 in Nebraska
“I am on the record on many issues. But no one individual vote, no one individual quote, no one individual statement defines me,” Hagel said.
Republican Senator James Inhofe was not impressed.
“Senator Hagel’s record is deeply troubling and out of the mainstream. Too often, it seems, he is willing to subscribe to a worldwide view that is predicated on appeasing our adversaries while shunning our friends,” he said.
Hagel rejected the allegation. “My overall worldview has never changed: that America has and must maintain the strongest military in the world, that we must lead in the international community to confront threats and challenges together,” he said.
The hearing was not entirely hostile. Democratic Senator Carl Levin noted Hagel’s service as an enlisted soldier in the Vietnam War.
“It would be a positive message for our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines in harm’s way around the world to know that one of their own holds the highest office in the Department of Defense, and that he has their backs,” Levin said.
Hagel appears to have the support of Democratic senators, who hold a majority in the Senate. But he would need at least five Republican votes for confirmation if any senator used a procedural maneuver to force a three-fifths vote on his nomination. He would succeed outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks to service members and civilian employees at the Pentagon after being sworn in, Feb. 27, 2013.
Outgoing Senator Chuck Hagel greets supporters after a farewell news conference in Omaha, Nebraska, December 18, 2008.
Then Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, David Petraeus, and Chuck Hagel ride in a helicopter, Baghdad, Iraq, July 21, 2008. (US Army)
Then Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joe Biden, left, laughs as then Senator Chuck Hagel dresses up as Biden for Halloween, October 31, 2007, on Capitol Hill.
Then President George W. Bush and then Senator Chuck Hagel embrace at the Airlite Plastics Company in Omaha, Nebraska, May 12, 2003.
Then Senator Chuck Hagel, left, and Senator John Kerry, shake hands while with other senators who served in Vietnam at the 15th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, March 7, 1997.
Chuck Hagel (right) standing outside tents in Vietnam, circa 1968. (Library of Congress)