Did he jump or was he pushed?<br /><br />Officially, Chuck Hagel has resigned as US Defence Secretary after less than two years in the job – in a move confirmed by President Obama at the White House.<br /><br />The president heaped praise on Hagel, a Vietnam war veteran and former Republican senator.<br /><br />“There is one thing I know about Chuck,” Obama told a joint news conference.<br /><br />“He does not make this or any decision lightly. This decision does not come easily to him. But I consider myself extraordinarily lucky to have had him by my side for two years and I am grateful that Chuck has agreed to stay on until I nominate a successor.”<br /><br />But US media reports tell a different story – suggesting that President Obama had lost confidence in his defence secretary amid differences over strategy in Syria and against ISIL militants.<br /><br />According to The New York Times:“Administration officials said that Mr. Obama made the decision to remove Mr. Hagel, the sole Republican on his national security team, last Friday after a series of meetings between the two men over the past two weeks”.<br /><br />This is the first major change to the president’s Cabinet since his Democrats were routed in this month’s midterm elections.
