'Hagel, who co-chairs President Barack Obama's Intelligence Advisory Board,

[elleng]

which provides independent advice on the effectiveness of the intelligence community, could be in contention for either secretary of state or secretary of defense, people familiar with the vetting process say.

Hagel, a moderate realist on foreign policy, would be a comfortable ideological fit for the president. He has publicly supported many of the administration's foreign-policy moves from his perch at Georgetown University, while often excoriating the GOP for what he sees as a takeover by "the extreme right."

Hagel was a harsh critic of George W. Bush's foreign policy, especially his decision to invade and occupy Iraq, which he once called "an absolute replay of Vietnam."

In the years since, he's remained a strong critic of Republicans in Congress.

"Now the Republican Party is in the hands of the right, I would say the extreme right, more than ever before. You've got a Republican Party that is having difficulty facing up to the fact that if you look at what happened during the first 8 years of the century, it was under Republican direction," Hagel told The Cable in a May interview. "The Republican Party is dealing with this schizophrenia. It was the Republican leadership that got us into this mess. If Nixon or Eisenhower were alive today, they would be run out of the party." . .

Former Senate staffer Steve Clemons, now editor-at-large at the Atlantic, said that Obama would be smart to pick Hagel.

"Hagel hides his keen understanding of complex strategic realities beneath an every-guy, aw-shucks veneer. He is one of the shrewdest, most well-informed, experienced national security hands who has served as a major force in GOP land in the legislative branch," Clemons said. "Hagel has been feeding tough-love messages to Obama for some time on the Middle East, on Russia, on China, on the design and missions of the armed forces and the intelligence ecosystem surrounding them."

Hagel and Obama have been close since Obama was a candidate for president. His wife Lilibet endorsed Obama in 2008 and Hagel traveled with candidate Obama to Iraq that summer, along with Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI). If selected, Hagel would bring his independent streak into an administration that looks increasingly packed with Obama loyalists, as compared to the "team of rivals" Obama surrounded himself with in 2009, which included outsiders like Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his primary campaign adversary.'

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/11/28/chuck_hagel_being_vetted_for_national_security_post

[Tx4obama]

1. I'm thinking he is being vetted to replace Petraeus at the CIA.

Hagel has been part of the Obama Administration since 2009, so I think President Obama has gotten to know him well by now

Chuck Hagel is currently the Chairman of President Obama's Intelligence Advisory Board
Assumed office: October 28, 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Hagel

[elleng]

2. Could be.

POTUS certainly wants someone he KNOWS he can rely on, at CIA!

[Cicada]

3. Like his independence

Group think has long been a problem among US foreign affairs experts - think Iraq. So if he really is able to think for himself then he sounds good to me.

[Inuca]

4. THe article also says that in 2008

Hagel was offered several high position jobs that he turned down

In 2008, the incoming Obama transition team offered Hagel several high-level jobs, all of which he turned down, including secretary of homeland security, director of national intelligence, and ambassador to China.

[Texin]

6. He turned them down in '08, but accepted a position in '09 that he's currently serving IIRC.

[Texin]

5. I think he'd be a solid choice and would leave these dunderheads gaping.

These vocal opponents of Rice are simply trying to nudge Obama to default to Kerry. I've said before that Kerry would be a natural fit and I believe Obama would like to appoint him to any of several cabinet-level positions, but the loss of him in the senate would be a blow, especially if the Dems lost the seat to someone like Brown (again). It would be a gamble IMO. Granted, about the same kind of gamble it was for him to pick Clinton out of NY, but they were solidly in the majority at that time and NY is traditionally a Dem state, just as MA is. But things are weird politically right now and Brown would likely be able to regroup and start campaigning as if he never stopped in early November. The Dems would have to scramble to find someone and may be forced to have challenges for the position. A timeline of 145 days doesn't give a candidate much time to pull off a winning campaign and I don't think there's anyone that's challenger-proof right now. So Hagel works for me if he's the nominee as would Huntsman or a number of other candidates. I think Obama will let this stuff play out with Rice for awhile and see how things fall between now and the end of the year.