VOA
Sites by Language
Tashi Delek!
24-Hour Stream
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Satellite Information
English Worldwide
English
voanews.com
Learning English
learningenglish.voanews.com
Eastern & Central Europe
Shqip
Zeriamerikes.com
Bosanski
vijestiglasaamerike.com
Ελληνικά
gr.voanews.com
Македонски
mk.voanews.com
Srpski
glasamerike.net
Українська
chastime.com
Eurasia
Հայերեն
amerikayidzayn.com
Azerbaijani
amerikaninsesi.org
ქართული
amerikiskhma.com
Русский
golos-ameriki.ru
Central Asia
O‘zbek
amerikaovozi.com
East & Southeast Asia
Burmese
burmese.voanews.com
粵語
voacantonese.com
中文
voachinese.com
Bahasa Indonesia
voaindonesia.com
ខ្មែរ
khmer.voanews.com
Khmer
voacambodia.com
한국어
voakorea.com
ລາວ
lao.voanews.com
ไทย
voathai.com
བོད་ཡིག
voatibetan.com
Tibetan
voatibetanenglish.com
Tiếng Việt
voatiengviet.com
South Asia
বাংলা
voabangla.com
دری
darivoa.com
پښتو
pashtovoa.com
وی او اې ډيوه ريډیو
voadeewaradio.com
اردو
urduvoa.com
Africa
Afaan Oromoo
voaafaanoromoo.com
አማርኛ
amharic.voanews.com
Français
lavoixdelamerique.com
Hausa
voahausa.com
Kinyarwanda
radiyoyacuvoa.com
Kirundi
radiyoyacuvoa.com
Ndebele
voandebele.com
Português
voaportugues.com
Shona
voashona.com
Soomaaliga
voasomali.com
Kiswahili
voaswahili.com
ትግርኛ
tigrigna.voanews.com
Zimbabwe
voazimbabwe.com
Middle East / North Africa
فارسی
ir.voanews.com
كوردی
dengiamerika.com
Kurdi
dengeamerika.com
Türkçe
amerikaninsesi.com
Latin America
Creole
voanouvel.com
Español
voanoticias.com
VOA
Log in
Sign up
Log out
Home
Tibet
USA
China
World
TV & Video
Kunleng Discussion
Kunleng News
Cyber Tibet
Analysis
Headline News
VOA Interviews
Radio
Buddhism & Culture
First Dawn: Traditional Tibetan Music
Heathy Lifestyle
Law and Freedom
Phayul Lengthig
Reconstructing the 1950s
Soyala: Contemporary Tibetan Music
Table Talk
Tibet in Review
Youth and Education
About Us
བོད་ཡིག་དྲ་གནས།
Saturday 2013/05/18
Audio menu
Multimedia & Live Stream
TELEVISION
Kunleng Discussion
Kunleng News
Analysis
Cyber Tibet
RADIO (Tibet Time)
Morning Show (In Tibetan)
Afternoon News (In Tibetan)
Evening News (In Tibetan)
USA
Hagel Nomination Signals Change at Pentagon
Print
Comment
Share:
Hagel Nomination Could Signal Leaner Pentagon
x
Hagel Nomination Could Signal Leaner Pentagon
✖
▶
||
■
12:00:00
/
-:--:--
🔇
🔉
⎚
▶
Download
Medium Quality(18.4 MB)
Low Quality(8.86 MB)
Hagel Nomination Could Signal Leaner Pentagon
Tweet
TEXT SIZE
-
+
09.01.2013
PENTAGON
— If he’s confirmed, Chuck Hagel - President Barack Obama’s pick to be the new defense secretary - will immediately have to deal with cutting the U.S. defense budget by $487 billion or more and the drawdown of troops from Afghanistan.
The decisions will be tough, but for the 66-year-old Republican former senator from the U.S. state of Nebraska, they will be a natural fit.
Chuck Hagel
Was chairman of the Atlantic Council public policy group
Co-chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board
Republican U.S. senator from 1997-2009 representing Nebraska
Served in Vietnam in 1968, where he earned two Purple Hearts
Born in 1946 in Nebraska
Hagel has spoken out against shedding the blood of U.S. soldiers in conflicts with unclear goals. He supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq by voting to authorize the use of military force at the start of the war, but later opposed sending more U.S. troops in what was known as the surge.
He also has spoken in favor of cutting waste at the Pentagon, telling
The Financial Times
in 2011 the Defense Department was “bloated” and needed to be “pared down” after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As one who fought on the front lines in Vietnam, Hagel would bring an added dose of reality to the job of defense chief. He enlisted as an infantryman and was wounded twice. To this day, bits of shrapnel are still lodged in his chest and he has burns on his face and arms. Awarded two Purple Heart medals for his valor, he brings added respect from the troops he will command if confirmed. It will be the first time a former enlisted soldier becomes secretary of defense.
Some say his first-hand experience of the horrors of war has fostered in him a more cautious attitude on engaging in armed conflict.
In announcing Hagel’s nomination at a White House press conference Monday, Obama said the former Nebraska senator is a patriot who understands that sending young Americans to fight and bleed is “something we do only when absolutely necessary.”
Standing next to Obama after the announcement of his nomination, Hagel said he is grateful for the chance to work to strengthen the United States and its allies, but also to advance global freedom, decency, and help build “a better world for all mankind.”
Hagel has pledged to offer honest counsel to the president at a time when the United States is withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan ahead of a deadline at the end of next year.
Breaking with the party
Hagel, a Republican, is known in Washington for his blunt talk and independent positions. They have included splitting with his party in opposing the Iraq war and his criticism of Washington’s handling of the war in Afghanistan, where half of the territory remains under the control of insurgents more than a decade after American troops landed in the country.
With much of the Afghanistan exit strategy still undecided, there is much room for him to influence the president on the withdrawal of troops.
“It certainly is of relevance that Senator Hagel has been relatively skeptical of the Afghanistan mission and you would have to assume that he’d be a voice joining that of Vice President [Joe] Biden arguing in favor of perhaps a little faster drawdown,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a defense analyst with the Brookings Institution, a research organization in Washington.
Few expect Hagel to keep his frustrations about Afghanistan quiet if he is confirmed as defense secretary. Frederick Kempe, president of the Atlantic Council, worked closely with Hagel while the former senator served as chairman at the Washington research group. He said Hagel will not waste time before assessing what the U.S. should be doing at this stage in Afghanistan.
“The one thing you know will happen is he will ask the tough questions,” said Kempe.
“He’ll say, ‘what are we negotiating with the Afghans, for what purpose? What is the regional context? How much do we need to leave behind and for what purpose in the regional context?’”
The Senate battle ahead
Hagel faces a battle for confirmation at the U.S. Senate by those who accuse him of being less supportive of Israel and not so tough on Iran.
In past remarks, Hagel has spoken of what he described as an intimidating “Jewish” lobby and been against unilateral sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions - raising questions of whether he would be less supportive of an Israeli preemptive strike on Iran.
The confirmation of White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan as the new CIA chief is expected to be less contentious, although he was the architect of the U.S. drone program to kill suspected terrorists.
Analyst Michael O’Hanlon said Brennan likely will be judged more on his efforts to eliminate al-Qaida leaders before they attack U.S. interests again. “I don’t expect any trouble with his confirmation on those grounds.”
This forum has been closed.
Comments
There are no comments in this forum. Be first and add one
Latest News
The Dalai lama in Madison, Wisconsin and His Speech to Tibetans
✖
▶
||
■
12:00:00
/
-:--:--
🔇
🔉
⎚
▶
Download
Medium Quality(203 MB)
Low Quality(102 MB)
More
Most Viewed
Dalai Lama Talks Peace at US College
An Interview With The Sikyong
His Holiness in the USA
CTA Convenes Conference on Development of Monastic Education
The Dalai lama in Madison, Wisconsin and His Speech to Tibetans
Most Multimedia
His Holiness in the USA
An Interview With The Sikyong
Kunleng News May 08, 2013
Kunleng News May 10 , 2013
Lobsang Tenzin & The Tibetan Protests of the late 1980s
Most Audio
༧གོང་ས་མཆོག་གི་མེ་དྲི་སེན་དུ་ཞབས་སོར་འཁོད་ཡོད་པ།
Listen to the full report
Saka Dawa Buddha’s Birth, Enlightenment and Parinirvana
Morning News
Afternoon News