Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, said outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was “up to the job” despite private criticism and described Mr. Hagel as “very, very frustrated” as a member of President Obama’s Cabinet.
“It was a job he was given where he never was really brought in to that real tight circle inside the White House that makes all the decisions, which has put us in the incredible debacle that we’re in today throughout the world, so I thank Chuck Hagel for his service, and I know that he was very, very frustrated,” Mr. McCain told KFYI’s Mike Broomhead in an interview featured in The Hill.
“Already the White House people are leaking, ’Well he wasn’t up to the job.’ Believe me, he was up to the job,” Mr. McCain said.
The White House indicated the defense secretary’s resignation, which Mr. Obama accepted Monday, was Mr. Hagel’s decision. But the former U.S. senator reportedly clashed with the administration on a host of issues, such as the U.S. policy toward Syria, and The New York Times reported the decision came after pressure from the president.
In a separate statement, Mr. McCain said that he and Mr. Hagel “have often seen eye to eye on our biggest national security challenges — ISIS, the conflict in Syria, the war in Afghanistan, a rising China, and most of all, sequestration.”
“I know that Chuck was frustrated with aspects of the administration’s national security policy and decision-making process,” he said. “His predecessors have spoken about the excessive micromanagement they faced from the White House and how that made it more difficult to do their jobs successfully. Chuck’s situation was no different.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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