Analysis: Who Might Be Next Defense Chief?
Defense News writes that “when the announcement came on Monday, with no successor named to be chewed over during the lame duck session of the 113th Congress, a litany of familiar names cropped up as [Defense Secretary Chuck] Hagel’s potential replacement.”
“At the top of the list — as she has been before — sits Michele Flournoy, a longtime defense expert who has spent a career moving in and out of government service, academia and the think tank world.”
“Former deputy defense secretary Ash Carter is also on the short list, and it is widely held that either one is more than qualified to take the Pentagon’s top job.”
“But some there is a real question of how much it will ultimately matter who gets to sit in the big seat at the five-sided building across the river, given the White House’s penchant for controlling national security matters tightly, along with a powerful National Security Council that has the president’s trust and clashed not only with Hagel, but his predecessors Leon Panetta and Bob Gates.”
Army Times points out that “Hagel’s replacement could face rough confirmation.”
Howie Kurtz writes on FoxNews.com about what they call “Leak War: How the White House unloaded on Chuck Hagel while firing him.”