Chuck Hagel Failed His Impossible Job

By 

David French

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November 24, 2014

2 min read

Constitution

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I would say that I pity Chuck Hagel. After all, here was his mandate: Maintain America’s strategic position while shrinking American military power and amplifying the Obama administration’s desires for global disengagement. 

It turns out that the SECDEF could accomplish only two of those missions. The problem with Hagel, of course, is that he seemed to tackle his mission with relish, believing in the same magic that the president believes — that military disengagement and retreat can come without cost (or, indeed, that such disengagement will actually help America’s national security posture.) Under his leadership, the military shed good men and women and — willingly or not — elevated the role of social engineering to a level that sometimes seemed more important than operational proficiency. Oh, and he presided over the collapse of Iraq and the rise of the Islamic State while helping supervise a military response dominated by civilian-administration micro-management that would make Lyndon Johnson blush.

The only people who should be surprised by the chaos in the Middle East and Putin’s rampage through parts of Ukraine are the folks who learned “history” at the feet of Noam Chomsky and “culture” in various Ivy League humanities departments. In Chuck Hagel they found a willing accomplice, a man with a borrowed ideology and boundless military incompetence.

But, hey, the Obama administration checked another “first” box — the first enlisted SECDEF. While “firsts” are nice, competence is better. 

Chuck Hagel served his country honorably in uniform, laying his life on the line in Vietnam. And for that, he will always deserve our thanks and respect. But he was the wrong SECDEF at the wrong time for the wrong president. 

But here’s the question for his successor: Can any man or woman succeed at the task this president gives him or her?

This article is crossposted on National Review.