Breakfast with Biden

Today Chuck Hagel is having breakfast with Vice President Biden. Politico reports:

"Vice President Biden will have breakfast on Tuesday with former Sen. Chuck Hagel, the White House says.

Hagel, a co-chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, was scheduled to meet with Biden at the Naval Observatory at 8 a.m. The White House didn’t say what they would talk about."

Chuck Hagel on Public Service

U.S. News and World Report has a new issue out and it focuses on Public Service. Chuck Hagel was invited to contribute on his experience and views on the subject. It is a short essay that is well worth the read.

"Public service is the essence of a free people, an open society, and a vital democracy. It is the centerpiece of a generous and caring culture. And there are so many wonderful ways to engage oneself in the employment of humanity, including elective office. Public service defines us, and it takes many forms. It is more than anything else the privilege of helping make a better world for all mankind. What is more important in life, more fulfilling, and more compelling?"

Thank you to those that serve our communities, in so many different capacities.

Chuck Hagel pays tribute to Senator Lugar

"Former Senator Chuck Hagel delivers remarks about Senator Richard Lugar during the 2010 CRDF George Brown Award for International Scientific Cooperation event, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, September 16, 2010."

Interview with Senator Hagel - The Washington Diplomat

Chuck Hagel has given an interview to the Washington Diplomat discussing politics (Iraq, Afghanistan, the Republican Party, and more) and his post-Senate work.

How right they were

I ran across an old article (The Washington Times, January 7, 1997) and wanted to share an astute prediction.

Chuck Hagel raised eyebrows in Washington by winning the Republican primary in Nebraska, where he was given little hope. He impressed more skeptics by overcoming odds and winning the general election over Democrat Ben Nelson to take the seat left by retiring Democratic Sen. Jim Exon.

"If he runs his office half as well as he did his campaign, he's going to be a player to watch," Mr. Marr said.

Mr. Hagel has proven himself as one to watch, and we continue to expect to see great things.

Secretary of Defense Gates to step down in 2011

Foreign Policy reports that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates plans to leave the administration in 2011, indeed he has stayed quite a bit longer than he originally planned. Secretary Gates told FP, "I just think this is not the kind of job you want to fill in the spring of a presidential election. So I think sometime in 2011 sounds pretty good." With this news, the speculation as to who would replace him picks up.

Foreign Policy goes through the short list for the next Secretary of Defense, which includes Chuck Hagel:

Always the bridesmaid: Chuck Hagel

Former Nebraska senator

The Obama administration has been trying to give Hagel a prime posting for a while. He's reported to have turned down several sweet offers, including ambassador to China and director of national intelligence. He does serve as a co-chair of Obama's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. In Hagel's favor, he's a Republican who won't bend to the GOP talking points of the moment and he's high-profile enough to fill the chair. The fear is that his independence and his penchant for veering off message in a Biden-esque way make him too risky to entrust with such a prominent perch. Moreover, if Obama chooses another Republican to lead DOD, many will begin to question whether the Democratic national- security bench is too thin or if Obama is wary of putting someone in his own party in charge of the wars.

Leslie Gelb of the Wall Street Journal agues that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should be shifted over to replace Bob Gates at Defense and Chuck Hagel should take her place as Secretary of State. "Her position at State could be readily filled by Chuck Hagel. The former Republican senator from Nebraska is generally aligned on foreign policy with Mr. Obama, perhaps more so than Mrs. Clinton herself. His confirmation would be easy."

Atlantic Council President Chuck Hagel on START

Chuck Hagel speaks on the progress and future of the new START agreement between the U.S. and Russia:

Joe Sestak picks the Senator he most admires: Chuck Hagel

OWH: "Hagel speaks up for vets"

The Omaha-World Herald has a piece out, "Hagel speaks up for vets."

Hagel praised the At Ease program as a potential national model, saying local public-private partnerships could be the quickest and most compassionate way to get veterans the help they need.

The government is spending billions of dollars annually trying to help veterans, he said, but “our circuits are overloaded” after nine years of war and a crippling recession.

Nonprofits, religious groups and businesses must step up, he said, ignoring old assumptions that only veterans wearing a sling or a bandage are in need of serious help.

“We can't let (returning veterans) just drift,” Hagel said. “We don't say, ‘Well, it looks like you don't have a problem. You look fine.'”

Former Senator Hagel has continued to be a leading voice on veterans issues, particularly those facing the soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.