Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will announce his resignation at a White House ceremony this morning, a senior defense official confirms.
The New York Times first reported the news that Hagel had handed in his resignation on the morning of Nov. 24. The resignation will take effect once a successor is confirmed.
Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, took control of the Pentagon during a time when the U.S. was facing declining budgets and when it was drawing down forces in Afghanistan. Now, the U.S. is confronting strikes in Syria and across the Middle East as well as renewed aggression by Russia in Eastern Europe along with the Pentagon’s plans to turn new attention to the Pacific.
“This was a decision that he and the President made when looking forward to the final two years of the Obama administration and that now is the right time to begin a transition to new leadership that can carry out the term,” the official says.
