Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is resigning, a senior defense official confirmed on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hagel has submitted his letter of resignation to President Obama on Monday morning but has vowed to stay in the job until the Senate confirms his replacement, the official said. It was not immediately known who the nominee would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obama and Hagel made the “mutual decision” that now was the time for Hagel to step down, the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEE UPDATED STORY: <\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hagel exit signals a return to war footing<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A ceremony at the White House was expected later Monday for the formal announcement of Hagel’s departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Over the past two years, Secretary Hagel helped manage an intense period of transition, … including the drawdown in Afghanistan, the need to prepare our forces for future missions, and tough fiscal choices to keep our military strong and ready,” a senior administration official said, calling Hagel a “steady hand” who was integral in mustering the military’s response to numerous challenges, including threats posed by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and the deadly Ebola outbreak in Western Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hagel first signaled his intent to leave in October, the administration official said, adding that a successor will be named soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The front runner at the moment is Michelle Flournoy, former under secretary of defense for policy. If selected, she would be the first female to lead the Defense Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hagel’s resignation comes on as the Pentagon is bracing for a major debate on military compensation and potential changes to the retirement system. The Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission will issue proposed legislation in February. The commission was created by Congress to help jump start reform on the controversial topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A former Pentagon official suggested that Flournoy would be a strong choice to address those challenges, but questioned whether she would accept the position if she thought her term would end with President Obama’s time in the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Part of her calculus would be the chances she could continue on into the next administration,” the former official said. “Not so much from a personal ego standpoint or from a career standpoint, but from a standpoint of, can she go in, start doing what needs to be done and will she have time to do it? DoD needs someone to be around for three or four years to see through the kind of changes that need to happen.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other names in the mix include Ashton Carter, former deputy defense secretary, Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, and Deborah Lee James, currently the Air Force secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move comes just weeks before a Republican-controlled Senate assumes its place on Capitol Hill, with Arizona Republican John McCain helming the Senate Armed Services Committee, which oversees the confirmation process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hagel, 68, has been the first Vietnam veteran and former enlisted service member to run the Pentagon since it was built 70 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to the business of running the Pentagon, Hagel had just presided over the launch of several major reform initiatives during the last several weeks, including an effort to begin rapid prototyping of new technologies, the revamping of the burdensome acquisition system, and a building-wide push to identify and begin developing next-generation technologies to counter near peer threats like China and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These efforts are largely being run by the Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work and his staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some experts say Hagel’s power and relevancy had waned in recent months. The White House’s own national security team has aggressively managed the Defense Department policies. At the same time, the top uniformed officer, Gen. Martin Dempsey, has emerged as key spokesman regarding the war operations in Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moreover, spending caps mandated under sequestration further reigned in his ability to run the Pentagon aggressively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s a real tragedy,” said Larry Korb, a defense expert at the Center for American Progress. “He was in an impossible position from the day he got there. He had to deal with sequestration, which his predecessors pretended didn’t exist. And it was almost impossible for him to be effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He wasn’t a part of Obama’s inner circle and he had to deal with the military that was not happy about the way things went in Iraq and Afghanistan.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
News of Hagel’s departure was<\/p>\n\n\n\n
first reported by the New York Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The administration official said Hagel initiated his own departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, the former Pentagon official said the change isn’t very surprising, as Hagel was selected by the Obama administration under very different circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I think Hagel was brought in to help rebuild the force after a conflict,” the former official said. “They thought he would help as noncontroversial and help as a former Republican with the Hill. But the scenario changed. … We’re still at war and probably will be for a while. You need a wartime secretary.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Staff writers Leo Shane III, Andrew Tilghman, Aaron Mehta, John T. Bennett and Paul McLeary contributed to this report.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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