US President Barack Obama is likely to nominate the former Republican senator, Chuck Hagel, as the new Pentagon Chief on Monday, replacing Leon Panetta.
US President Barack Obama is likely to nominate the former Republican senator, Chuck Hagel, as the new Pentagon Chief on Monday, replacing Leon Panetta.
Obama has decided he wants the 66-year-old former senator to succeed Panetta at the Pentagon and will make his announcement on Monday, an administration source told AFP.
The US leader is also expected to announce who he has chosen to replace David Petraeus at the helm of the CIA, with acting director Michael Morell and counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan seen as the frontrunners, CNN said.
Although Hagel is a Reublican, he is likely to face questions over accusation of ‘hostility’ toward the Zionist entity and ‘naivety’ on Iran, auguring a tough nomination process ahead at the Senate, where the nomination should be approved.
Some Republicans already have declared their public opposition to Hagel in Obama's second-term Cabinet.
Senator Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican, said earlier on Sunday that he was reserving judgment on whether to support his former colleague, Hagel.
But he predicted the Hagel would face serious questions about his stands on Tehran and Tel Aviv.
Any nominee must have "a full understanding of our close relationship with out Israeli allies, the Iranian threat, and the importance of having a robust military", McConnell said on ABC television's "This Week".
"He ought to be given a fair hearing like any other nominee, and he will be," McConnell said, adding: "I'm going to wait and see how the hearings go and whether Chuck's views square with the job he would be nominated to do."
Hagel, Vietnam veteran, has also been attacked by gay rights groups for remarks in 1998 questioning whether an "openly aggressively gay nominee could be an effective US ambassador.” He apologized for the comments last month saying they were "insensitive".
If confirmed, Hagel would become the first former enlisted soldier to lead the Pentagon. He served alongside his brother Tom in Vietnam.
