Not Up To It

24 November 2014

Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Hagel Ousted from Pentagon

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel resigned from his position this morning. It took a bit of time for the dust to settle, but it appears he was fired for not being up to the job. While the president and Mr. Hagel had a make-nice photo op, the decision looks to have come from the Oval Office itself, and the president's words were laced with more than a modicum of hypocrisy. Mr. Hagel's successor will have, at most two years, and is likely, therefore, to be as average in the job as Mr. Hagel was.

Officially, the reason for Mr. Hagel's resignation was a change in military mission. He came into the Cabinet to wind down the dumb war in Iraq and the not-so-dumb war in Afghanistan. However, with the rise of ISIS in western Iraq and eastern Syria, he was unable to make the mental shifts necessary to develop a coalition to take on the barbarians.

Within the Obama administration, the National Security Council manages (some would say micromanages) foreign conflicts and counter-terrorism. This will annoy any Defense Secretary. "I know that Chuck was frustrated with aspects of the administration's national security policy and decision-making process," said Senator John McCain (R-AZ). "His predecessors have spoken about the excessive micro-management they faced from the White House and how that made it more difficult to do their jobs successfully. Chuck's situation was no different."

However, the Defense Department should not be in charge of anything at a strategic policy level. When the Pentagon leads in foreign policy, the response to almost everything is force of arms. For instance, Vietnam and the Iraq occupation were the direct result of the Pentagon leading the way. In one's more radical moments, one might well argue that the Pentagon should be a subordinate unit within the State Department, and that State should be renamed the Department of International Relations.

One Senate aide told Politico, "Hagel has been pushing back on the administration in regards to the defense budget and some of the defense policy, and that's kind of what led to this," the aide said. "He started to no longer be a yes-man." When one reads between the lines of that, it becomes clear that Mr. Hagel felt that he was in the Cabinet to fight for the Defense budget on behalf of the Pentagon, his constituency. In truth, he was there to tell the Pentagon that the budget was going to be axed and that there were to be changes to defense policy, and the military had best figure out how to live with it. Cabinet officers implement the president's policy; they do not work for the department they head.

Politically, the question of a successor arises. The Republicans will inevitably create problems in the confirmation process of anyone whom Mr. Obama appoints. Mr. Hagel had a rough time, and he was a US Senator and a Republican when appointed. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) told CNN on Monday he was "flabbergasted" to hear from Hagel that he was quitting -- and he warned that whoever Obama picks to replace him can expect "to have a very tough time" in the Senate.

If the president plays this hand correctly, he can score a double victory. First, he needs to pick the person he wants to serve at the Pentagon, and second, he needs to make the Senate accept that appointee. The Republicans are still trying to figure out how they lost their dominant position in national security matters, and they are striving to get it back. By denying the president the person he wants at Defense, by delaying the confirmation, they set themselves up to be the party that risks national security for political advantage. That is, of course, what they do, but it is never convenient nor is it wise to be seen to be doing that.

© Copyright 2014 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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