Obama nominates Hagel for Defense Secretary and Brennan for CIA Chief

On Monday Obama nominated Chuck Hagel to be his Defense Secretary and John Brennan to be the new head of the CIA. Both nominations need to be confirmed by the Senate.

Chuck Hagel, the current co-chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, is a former Republican Senator from Nebraska and a Vietnam War veteran. Leon Panetta, the current Defense Secretary, has expressed his strong support for the nomination.

John Brennan is Obama’s current counter-terrorism adviser and a long time member of the CIA. Some of Brennan’s most famous work includes his role in coordinating the Bin Laden raid and his expansion of the drone strike program.

Hagel meeting with the POTUS (source)

As with most Presidential nominations for powerful positions, both Hagel and Brennan have recently encountered criticism from members of both parties. Hagel is by far the more controversial figure for his supposed policies in the Middle East. Lindsey Graham, a Conservative Senator from South Carolina has called Hagel “the most antagonistic secretary of defense towards the state of Israel in our nation’s history.” These remarks are questionable being that Hagel has voted to give military aid to Israel numerous times. Hagel has also come under fire for his view that Israel should have talks with Hamas and that UN sanctions should be used against Iran instead of unilateral sanctions. In addition to being criticized by his own party, Hagel has also been criticized by Democrats for a remark in 1998 when he called the nominee for the ambassador to Luxembourg “openly, aggressively gay.” He has since apologized for these remarks.

John Brennan (source)

In the past, John Brennan has been scrutinized for his association with the War in Iraq and his association with the torture techniques used during the Bush administration. These attacks are what ultimately caused him to give up pursuing the nomination for the same position in 2009. These attacks are also somewhat unfair since Brennan has opposed both the Iraq War and torture techniques used during the Bush administration. In regards to the harsh criticism of his drone strike program and his infamous "kill lists"from human rights organizations, Brennan has stated that he would like to see the program become more transparent with more rules. He has also advocated for the closing of the GITMO prison and been open to removing drone strikes out of the CIA to an organization where they could be better conducted. The current Director of the CIA has praised Brennan's nomination.

The Senate is expected to approve both nominations.

What do you think of each nominee? What are your opinions on the controversy surrounding each candidate? Should each nominee be approved?