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US Defense secretary Chuck Hagel resigns under pressure

by IBNS 25 Nov 2014, 12:06 pm

Washington, Nov 25 (IBNS): US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel tendered his resignation under pressure on Monday, media reports said.

President Barack Obama was to announce the resignation from the State Dining Room of the White House around 11:15 am Eastern Time.

Reports said Obama had made the decision to remove Hagel, the sole Republican on his national security team, on last Friday after a series of meetings between the two men over the past two weeks.

A Republican and a combat veteran, Hagel was skeptical about the Iraq War. Sources said he came in to manage the Afghanistan combat withdrawal and the shrinking Pentagon budget in the era of budget sequestrations.

His resignation was seen as the first Cabinet-level casualty of the collapse of President Barack Obama’s Democratic majority in the Senate and the struggles of his national security team to respond to an onslaught of global crises.