which his replacement will be announced to the public assuming, of course, he is confirmed the the senate, wolf. and, barbara starr, it is a little awkward also. ch chuck hagel will remain the defense secretary until ash carter is confirmed by the senate. that could take a few months, right? well, several weeks to say the least and secretary hagel continuing with his duties even as we speak, he is scheduled in the coming hours to begin an overseas trip. cnn will be with him. our own jim sciutto will be with him on that trip reporting on what hagel is doing so he is working around the clock on the war on isis, on the defense budget, on spend iing on signin orders to deploy troops. all of this. but these are things that will confront ash carter when he comes to the pentagon. the white house made the public claim it was time for a transition to new leadership.