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Chuck Hagel to Co-Chair Obama's Intel Advisory Board
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Former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel gave an outstanding speech outlining the imperative of American leadership in the Israel-Palestine dispute at the J Street Annual Conference Gala Dinner last night.
I had the privilege of moderating the discussion and having an exchange about US foreign policy with the Senator who teaches at Georgetown University and now chairs the Atlantic Council of the United States.
During my own remarks, which I offered humorously wearing a "Joe Biden mask" (long story. . .for later), I announced that Chuck Hagel would soon be officially announced as the new chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, a post that has recently been held by Stephen Friedman, former NY Federal Reserve Board Governor and national economic adviser to President George W. Bush.
Former US Senator and Oklahoma University President David Boren will serve as co-chair with Hagel of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.
Previously, Brent Scowcroft, Les Aspin and former House Speaker and US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Foley chaired this intelligence advisory body.
Hagel is also scheduled to meet President Obama today in the White House.
This is a great move. Hagel represents the brand of pragmatic Republican national security decisionmaking that President Obama needs to hear much more from.
-- Steve Clemons
« Previous Article - Interviewing Khaled Meshal on Palestine, Goldstone, International Law and Israel Peace Process» Next Article - Hagel and Halloween
Reader Comments (7) - post a comment
First, when you came on stage in that Biden mask it was hilarious. Wrote it up over at my place.
As for Chuck Hagel, his speech was not only "outstanding" but important. Unfortunate that the delivery of dinner came during it, but Hagel, who isn't a dynamic speaker, really delivered in content and substance. He deserved the applause, which broke into his speech on several occasions when he talked about the plight of Palestinians.
Meh. Obama could probably get the same centrist, mainstream advice from any number of Dems; Hagel is just one of the few Republicans who say the same thing. Obama needs to hear more from people who point out that we can't afford to keep playing global cop and maintaining a quasi-empire. Even if the economy were to recover robustly, the country faces a structural deficit of about 4% of GDP, or $560B. Pulling $200-300B out of defense spending will be necessary in the very near future.
Very glad to see that they found a significant role for Hagel in the Obama administration. I'm still hoping that they will consider him for SecDef if and when Robert Gates retires.
Here you will find a Haaretz article on Gen. Jones speech. Blahblahblah...same old shit.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1123992.html
Still can't find a transcript from his speech to the AIPAC San Diego Summit, made a week or two ago, where Mitt Romney was the other keynote speaker. It would be interesting to see how the two speeches differed, if they did at all.
The Haaretz article fails to note that Jones refers to the Goldstone Report as being "overly broad" in his speech. (Thanks to Taylor Marsh' twittering for this tid-bit) This type of vague horseshit seems to be all we are going to get from the Obama Administration as an explanation why they are once again aiding and abetting Israel in avoiding accountability for war crimes.
Goldstone has challenged the Obama Administration to SPECIFICALLY outline what it is on the report that they take exception to. Of course, Obama or his Administration has not responded. As if there is a question whether or not war crimes were committed? Does anyone REALLY doubt it?
I see the racist wretch Nadine is describing Operation Cast Lead as a "surgical strike". And she gets upset when someone questions the accuracy of historical aspects of the Holocaust narrative?
Anyway, Jones fed us the same effin' script Romney is feeding us, with a slightly softened tone. I'm sure AIPAC was proud of Jones' speech. In fact, one wonders if they wrote it. Except for the fact he never mentioned the settlements. I imagine it was Obama that told him to avoid mentioning that embarrassing show of political cowardice.
I was going to write a snarky comment asking why Obama couldn't find a Democrat instead of Hagel but I see someone beat me to it with a "real" comment. I disagree with Hagel on many issues but I think he's pretty solid on defense issues.
I would like to see a Dem as SecDef, though, if Gates does retire although I can't complain with the job he's done thus far.
If the Republicans had listened to Chuck Hagel four years ago, there wouldn't be the Democratic supermajority there is now, and John McCain would be the President.
Hagel will be a great advisor. I disagree that SecDef would be good for him, too much adminstrative work. Advisor fits him well, Obama will profil greatly from his intelligence about intelligence.
Interesting that Hagel is grabbing the spotlight again as ES&S and Diebold meld into one entity that will forever rob Americans of their ability to have confidence in their vote.
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