Chuck Hagel | AEIdeas

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Photo Credit: Jon Flawed/Flickr

Further jitters in Northeast Asia

Michael Auslin | April 29, 2013, 11:41 am

Last week, I stood at an observation post along the Demilitarized Zone in South Korea, overlooking the soon-to-be-abandoned Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea. The only tangible, if overrated, symbol of cooperation between the two Koreas, it has fallen victim … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Defense

Fiddling while the Pentagon burns

Gary Schmitt | March 29, 2013, 10:14 am

Much has been made of the fact that the new spending bill passed by Congress this past month has given the Defense Department both $10 billion additional dollars to help alleviate the shortfalls in its operations and maintenance accounts and … read more >

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Foreign and Defense Policy

Is the CIA too focused on counterterrorism?

Gary Schmitt | March 21, 2013, 12:35 pm

According to a front-page story in the Washington Post today, the president’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board issued a report recently that argued the intelligence community had become too focused on supporting the war efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and against al … read more >

Records from John Bolton's UN ambassador confirmation hearings kept stored at AEI. If stacked on top of one another, they would reach well above 5 feet.

Foreign and Defense Policy, Defense

The unprecedented and Chuck Hagel

Danielle Pletka | February 11, 2013, 2:13 pm

The Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is poised to force a committee vote on Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense tomorrow despite outstanding questions from Republican members regarding Hagel’s finances, speeches, receipt of foreign payments. Chairman Levin … read more >

Image Credit: Secretary of Defense (Flickr) (CC BY 2.0)

Foreign and Defense Policy, Defense

Hagel and the defense budget

Gary Schmitt | February 1, 2013, 2:15 pm

Senator Lindsey Graham’s skewering yesterday of former senator and prospective defense secretary Chuck Hagel over the latter’s comments about the “Jewish lobby” and its ability to “intimidate” members of Congress will certainly go down in the history of confirmation hearings … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy

The questions they should have asked Kerry

Gary Schmitt | January 31, 2013, 8:42 am

An interesting tidbit that seemed to get lost in the Senate’s rush to confirm John Kerry as Secretary of State this week were the comments he made during his nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about US policy … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Defense

The Senate and Chuck Hagel

Danielle Pletka | January 30, 2013, 1:50 pm

Much has been revealed about Barack Obama’s nominee to be defense secretary in recent weeks. A quick rundown: He thinks Palestinians are kept “caged like animals” by Israel He is not “an Israeli Senator” He is backed by a nexus … read more >

Image Credit: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Flickr) (CC BY 2.0)

Foreign and Defense Policy, Defense

Hagel flip-flops

Danielle Pletka | January 29, 2013, 2:20 pm

This is being circulated on Capitol Hill by Sen. Cornyn’s office. It’s an amazing document, a litany of flips and flops and twirls and somersaults, the likes of which have rarely been seen… Hagel apparently doesn’t have the courage of … read more >

Image Credit: Flickr: RonAlmog (CC BY 2.0)

Foreign and Defense Policy, Middle East and North Africa

The Israeli elections: Nothing to see here

Danielle Pletka | January 22, 2013, 9:44 am

Israelis headed for the polls today, with turnout higher than it has been in a decade. The consensus among Israeli pundits is that incumbent Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is headed for victory, albeit a narrower one than he expected when … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Defense

Chuck Hagel, anti-Semite?

Danielle Pletka | January 11, 2013, 9:18 am

It has been suggested that Chuck Hagel is an anti-Semite. It has also been suggested that it is an outrage and a smear to call Barack Obama’s nominee to be secretary of defense an anti-Semite. For my part, I don’t … read more >

The Uses of Scandal
One of the greatest uses of scandal is to vividly demonstrate what new laws are needed and to create the political conditions to get them enacted. […]
Lean In… to Government?
Sheryl Sandberg's runaway best-selling book Lean In has managed to offend both the Left and the Right. Sandberg touts female hard-headedness, yet also calls for an elaborate government- and employer-supplied support system for women. […]
Are American Voters Racist?
Racial prejudice plays a very small role in American politics, but a highly disciplined sense of self-interest on the part of one group may play a very large role in the way the federal government functions. […]
The Perpetual Passion for Paper
Paper is becoming less important in some respects, but its strengths — prestige, utility, permanence, and security — are more essential than ever. […]