He spent keeping himself on tainted and logging and other kinds of things. When you look at the transition from leon panetta and asking what kind of person you would have in their, eventually to deal with what will be a shrinking defense budget, i think chuck hagel seemed a very obvious choice. I basically thought that is where the president was going to go early on. Host this is a the news from the New York Times. The war and against hagel and republicans called him in the piecer based on what he said in iraq. He voted for the war but turned against it. Easer sings very strong. Guest he voted for it and then had criticism of how it was being carried out. When you talk about the secretary defense, the most important thing that happened during the war is the surge. He voted against the surge. He called the worst mistake since vietnam. We know in terms of the military, strategy and the search worked. It was very successful. When youre talking about putting somebody in the secretary of defense has such strong views, in my opinion, that is the question that senators will be asking. Host we are going to share with you from the cspan Video Library some of the statements by senator chuck hagel and many interviews were conducted with him over the years. Our que in a program and a number of speeches he has delivered to give you a chance to hear senator chuck hagel and his own words. What is his nomination signal in terms of what the president wants to achieve over the next four years . Guest i think it signals two things. One signals that he wants an independent, nononsense voice at the table on the president. Senator chuck hagel has had a close relationship with president obama. And i happen to know from a number of sources that the quality of conversation, that the nature of their conversation is a very direct, often not in agreement and that the president is not bringing on board a yes man. The second thing we need to know is that we have been dealing with chuck hagel and a way that we ought to be debating the secretary of state. This will be the secretary of defense. This is about deploying power or run the world and managing Strategic Assets and managing a shift where the president has said that we now have or did we have overweighted our resources in the middle east and south asia and we have underweighted our presence in asia looking at china. That shift is like moving a giant ship of spending, resources, american men and women being deployed in different places, as well as Strategic Asset purchasing, what weapons and technologies. And as we bring down the defense budget, smart choices need to happen so that at the end of the day, the department of defense is able to bring security to the world, that we have got the same degree of security deliverable then that we would. It is not a function of money. You need someone who understands. Chuck hagel having been a combat veteran, two purple hearts from vietnam. That is very important. This is a man who understands the nature and structure of military organization. I think that is what i think will it be really the issue. Host he talked about that in a 2005 interview with us on his experience in vietnam. Here is the president as he formally nominated chuck hagel to be the next defense secretary replacing leon panetta. My frame of reference, he has said, is geared toward the guy at the bottom who is doing the fighting and the dying. With chuck our troops will always know, just like Sergeant Chuck Hagel was there for his brother, secretary chuck hagel will be there for you. Host as you hear the words of the president , how significant is that going to be in hagels thinking . Guest i think vietnam was a life changing experience for him. The real question is whether the military service and on our plate is the military we are talking about today. I think it is quite different. I think the experiences he had, while important in terms of his own valor, does not necessarily translate into being a good secretary of defense. Institutions are vastly different. Were talking about it all volunteer force, a Different Force that was in vietnam. Again, he needs to be credited with serving the way he did, but that does not give you the type of experience in necessarily to be secretary of defense. I would say that i think steve is right. Senator chuck hagel has made quite a few statements and quite a bit of, his reputation for talking about Foreign Policy. When he was in the senate, he had a light footprint when it came to military services. I am not so sure his experience to hisly oepens up being the right guy to be the secretary of defense. Host we have heard about the concern of sequestration and spending 500 billion over the next decade, 120 billion over the next year. What does that portend as to what secretary chuck hagel would face . Guest the Defense Department, when you are making decisions about spending and technology, these are decisions that were crafted a year ago. In some cases, a decade ago. To think you can turn on a dime is a very hard. So the defense secretary and with a lot of white house guidance has been planning for this. But it is a bearish big shock to the system. I am one who thinks that you can make a substantial cut. If youve had that level of automatic spending cuts, it would create the equivalent of a depression and a big shock to the pentagon. I think it is not Smart Security strategy. But chuck hagel would have to get in there. He has to implement the law and make tough choices and deal with the command staff of the pentagon and figure out how to make those as judiciously and protect the skeletal structure of American Security capacit y. Host how substantial are the cuts . Guest 120 billion is a very substantial stock. Yeah. In in various parts of the overseas contingency. It would be shaving off quite a bit. It will be hard for this town. Joe mantion has been out showing a chart. The number of men and women in uniform has stayed very flat. And the growth and contractors. I suspect the contract and dimensions of this will be hit hard because that is a way you will be cutting through a lot of muscle and tendons but to try to keep the bones said, that is what it will be cutting. Host senator chuck hagel very recently said that the pentagon was bloated. He said it it had to do a serious strategic review. I think that shows a little bit of how out of touch he is. The department of defense has already cut 800 billion out of plan and current spending. There has already banned a big whack out of defense spending. This is in addition to the 493 that would happen if sequester takes place. He seems to not realize that. The chairman of the joint chiefs has said that the sec if the sequester goes through or if some cuts go through, they would have to rethink their strategic posture. The pentagon has been rethinking these things for the past four years in a serious way. Unfortunately, senator chuck hagel does not seem to recognize there has been this review. Host we are taking an indepth look into senator chuck hagel, the choice by the president to be the defense secretary. We are using a lot of material from our cspan Video Library. You can check out any time at our website at cspan. Org . Five mythsning, about chuck hagel. The leaders of these countries and of that region have failed the people for their reasons. It is not americas fault. It is not the wests fault for what has happened in iraq or the middle east or africa. Have American Companies take it vanished . Have there been plundering or abuses, of course, but the responsibility for those regions being held behind rests on the shoulders of their leaders. No one else. Now you see the manifestation of that. I said earlier, i am one who believes and i said before it went into iraq, you cannot impose and a democracy the matter how wellintentioned you are on a region of the world that does not want it or does not have any history or culture now we fix the problems. We will put the marcy in iraq and that we will put democracy in iraq and the middle east will be aglow with democracy. And that will be the beginning of responsible government. It does not happen that way. So culture, tradition, religion, ethnic plans clan are all part of that. You work within the system. I talked about alliances. That is why alliances are important. You live within those systems to affect change, to try to influence change. There are so many things going on in the world that it that are disgusting, despicable, that we hate. Sudan is a very good example. But we have limitations as to what we can do to change that. We should always be about helping change that. But we have limitations. Great powers fun into very difficult times when they do not recognize that they have limitations of to their power. All individuals have limitations. Nations must be wise enough to understand. Host as senator chuck hagel in his speech is available on c span Video Library. This photograph as a then senator barack obama and chuck hagel traveling through the middle east. As you hear the words of chuck hagel, she talks about the limits of power that echoed with the present what the president said when he was running for the white house in 2008. Guest one of the conditions that president obama and his team came in and said it, there are a lot of demands are roman world and a lot of challenges. Americas role is not just to challenge the foes but to be dependable for allies. When americans power is doubte4d, the allies doubt the ability to stand by them. What is the roster of portis that the United States had to focus on, a particular at the time of the Global Economic crisis when you have the middle east crisis, you had rising problems with north korea. That is what chuck hagel is saying. We do not have a magic wand to be all things to all people. You need to figure out how, given the limitations to have, you can matter and roll from those into the next issues. That is a realistic assessment, of a power that would even on the neo conservative side would also think that the part of the role of the United States is to go into the interior of these countries and try to redesign them so they are less of a threat to the United States and become more responsible contributors to the international system. When you have limited power, it makes someone like chuck hagel very skeptical of the ability of the United States to do that. That is a legitimate debate. But definitely when chuck hagel and jack reed traveled with president obama when he was running for office, i think this was part of their discussion. Host what kind of relationship do these two men have, the president and senator chuck hagel . Guest they do get along personally. If you look at the first term of the obama administration, president obama was elected, there were doubts about his National Security experience. It was quite natural for him to pick then senator clinton to be secretary of state and keep bob gates on as secretary of defense. I think he thinks in the second term, he is not running for reelection. He has had experience, so he is much more inclined to pick somebody who is comfortable with, which is senator chuck hagel and senator john kerry. They got along in the senate, so presumably there will get along in the administration. I would add that i do think that one has to ask why, for example, the president is willing to make a flight out of the nomination . I do think the fundamental reason is that secretary chuck hagel senator chuck hagel would agree, i think both he and the president are in lock step. One of the things that should be done in the hearings for the nomination is the did more about where this administration is going when it thinks about American Power and leadership. It is finding good to talk about the limits of power. Everybodys to understand. Then it couldnt predict it can become an excuse for not exercising power. Of that debate can be put on the table when senator chuck hagel is before the Senate Committees. Steve clemons is the editor of the atlantic magazine. We will get to your calls and comments in just a moment as we offer you an extended roundtable and share reduce some of the insides of senator chuck hagel. A quote that has been getting a lot of attention. In an interview that senator chuck hagel did back in 2006 he said this the jewish lobby in todays a lot of people up here, referring to capitol hill. Again i have always argued against some of the dumb things they do because i do not think it is in the interest of israel. I just do not think it is smart for israel. Whod like to comment on that . Guest there has been a lot of suggestion that senator chuck hagel might be antisemitic. I have no way of knowing and i doubt very seriously he is. What is troubling about that quote is not so much the jewish lobby, a different way of saying something the israel lobby or ever. The most troubling part of that quote has to do with the fact that it goes on to say, i am a u. S. Senator and not the senator from israel. The troubling part of that is the subtle suggestion that if you disagree with him about policy, u. S. Policy toward israel and the middle east, somehow that you are, there is a loyal to question at stake there, that those who disagree with him are not beholden to the u. S. And the constitution as much as, also thinking they have a duty towards israel. I think that is going to be something the senators are going to ask him about. Host let me brief you about what eron david miller writes in the Washington Post from an interview he did in 2006. He says it senator chuck hagel is independent on israel. He believes in a special u. S. Israel relationship but not one in which the United States except israels action on critically. He is not as emotionally connected to israel as some of his other colleagues such as john lewis and mark kirk, but in our interview, his voting record on military aid to israel, senator chuck hagel has been clear that israel is a small democratic ally and a dangerous neighborhood worthy of support. Guest he has always voted in favor of aid packages. Lets be honest this is a complex and taboo subjects. And eron david miller who is at the Wilson Center was a negotiator for six president s. His credentials are impeccable. What is nice about these interviews he did with leaders is that they are all online so people can go and listen to the various recordings he did on u. S. Israel on issues. But what i would tell you is that we have to evolve it is a complicated issue because, and many people have tried to discuss it it is a question it of what is the nature of the u. S. Israel relationship . There is a debate that is more actively had in jerusalem ben and washington about what the terms of israels dirty our security needs. Jim jones that israel is confers confusing is short term versus its longterm i nterests. Now i think hagel, gave a very powerful speech some years ago ed perkins, in which he said we cannot make a full stores between our rock solid relationship with israel but also we have vital relationships with other countries in the neighborhood. That very often in congress, in the senate and house, what some Interest Groups want to see is a zero sum game where you hug one country so tightly and you demonstrate disdain for the other. I think that is what chuck hagel is saying is not constructive. I would quickly say, i interviewed the former chief of Naval Operations in israel about some of his relationship with chuck hagel over the years. And he recounted something that is very interesting, because there has been a lot of criticism for hagel for not jumping on the number of the letters that the Americanisrael Public Affairs Committee put through to encourage congress to vote for support. There was one that had to do with pressuring russia on jews. Chuck hagel refused. The admiral said, why did not do this . And he had within a day said to him, in exchange she had with president clinton. He had written to president clinton about this. Received a letter from clinton and a commitment from clinton to take certain actions. Chuck hagel was moving privately. When i talked to others about this, they were upset he did not sign on to the public rhetoric. Chuck hagel did exactly, was in line with what they had. But because of not following with the tribe, there has been some concern that his independence is something that worries them. Host ann joins us from tennessee, a democrat. Caller it does not matter who president obama nominates. As a report that came out in june that under president obama that 7 of the injuries have occurred in afghanistan. Does that sound like were winning . Guest steve used the word tribe. By talking about i am not the senator from israel. The problem with that kind of language is that it suggests that those who have a very strong strategic view about the u. S. Israeli relationship somehow are in the pocket of israelis. I think that is wrong. There are strategic reasons for the relationship. On afghanistan, i would say senator chuck hagels held different positions. When the iraq war was going poorly and the search was suggested, senator chuck hagel said, we have taken our eye off the ball. The greatest threat the United States faces is between the mountains of pakistan and afghanistan. Today, or previously, he opposed the president s surge in afghanistan. These are issues that need to be addressed. Where does he think afghanistan is going to go . Why did he think that afghanistan was such a vital, strategic interest and then when the president himself tries to address the issue, he does not support that position . So senator chuck hagel i keep putting him in o ffice has meant a lot of statements over the years about the middle east and central asia that i think have to be addressed. The is the issue that the u. S. Israel relationship was brought up produce the has to be put in context. I think the caller started down that road, which is the fact that it is not simply about israel and the u. S. , it is all about the statements that senator chuck hagel made on sanctionsmade on sanctions on id talking with the dictatorship in syria about not signing a resolution or not signing on to a resolution