Posted on 11/08/2014 4:30:56 AM PST by Kaslin
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has just a 26 percent approval rating among individuals currently serving within the national security community, according to findings from a new survey commissioned by Defense One.
The findings come as scrutiny on the Obama administration’s handling of the war in Iraq and Syria grows. At the same time, a variety of media reports hint that President Barack Obama, himself trailing in the polls after a poor showing for the Democrats in Tuesday’s election, is considering a shake-up of his national security staff. That could include Hagel.
The “Defense One National Security Survey” released Friday found few individuals inside the national security government think highly of the Obama administration’s national security strategy. The survey found that only 4 percent of respondents “strongly agree” and 16 percent “agree” that the White House has “a clear national security strategy.” Conversely, 73 percent of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with that statement.
The survey also found that 50 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed the U.S. relies too heavily on its military to achieve its foreign policy goals, but 77 percent of respondents think the world is “more dangerous” than it was in 2008, when Obama was elected.
But as the chief of the massive Defense Department, it is Hagel’s poor showing among many of his own employees that is most striking. Hagel has a 35 percent disapproval rating among the respondents, most of which are federal workers and troops who serve under his leadership. Perhaps more concerning for a Defense Secretary grappling with myriad world crises but whose public profile has been limited, 39 percent of those respondents said they had “no opinion” of whether Hagel was doing a good job or not.
The survey by Government Business Council and Defense One, divisions of Government Executive Media Group, received responses from 427 individuals currently serving within the national security community, including 77 percent Defense Department civilians and 7 percent uniformed military personnel. Sixteen percent reported themselves as “non-DoD civilian.” The survey has a margin of error of 4.74 percent.
The survey also found, unsurprisingly, that 82 percent of individuals think sequestration – the automatic spending cuts mandated by Congress – agree “significantly impairs” the military’s ability to respond to global national security threats. Sixty-four percent of respondents believe shrinking the size of the U.S. Army to less than 450,000 soldiers also impairs the military’s ability to respond to threats.
Hagel, a former Army sergeant who served in the Vietnam War, arrived in the Pentagon in February 2013 after a controversial confirmation process he nearly did not survive. Immediately, he inherited a Pentagon that was undergoing deep spending cuts, violence in the Middle East and a war in Afghanistan. A sexual assault crisis, women in combat and other social issues have also dominated his tenure. But while Hagel, a former Republican senator, was able to erase some of the ill-will surrounding his confirmation process through quiet stewardship and his low-key, self-effacing style, he has struggled to define an agenda. His frequent trips to Asia to underscore that the so-called pivot to Asia is real have only made matters worse: he often finds himself in that region as crises in the Middle East, Europe and Africa blow up elsewhere.
If I was Obama, I would replace Hagel with a Black woman. That would solve all the problems! /sarc
Sarcasm or not, quit fueling the Good Idea Fairy.
Obama’s karma is so poisoned that everyone who attaches to it is terminal.
The main characteristic that ALL of Obama’s appointees possess is incompetence. And you can take that to the bank.
I don't think I'd approve of him either
Obola PREDICTABLY went for the drunkard.
please pick up the phone Col. West.
he looks like a “sad sack”.
After BHO and Biden, there’s no one in Washington less qualified for his position than Hagel. And that’s with very stiff competition from Kerry and the rest of the foreign relations/national security clown posse that Jarrett has assembled.
You beat me to it. The “Sad Sack” cartoon popped to mind when I saw the thread.
You got that right
I am stunned it is that high.
I guess even the military has its numbskulls.
“We just lost big in the Senate, the House, governorships, state legislatures, and some of these are in New York, Maryland, Illinois...”
“Gotta hang the blame on the white Republican at the DoD. Have the media shills build a meme, then I’ll fire him.”
And speaking of meme-building:
Did Obama Steal The Election With Hagel’s Help?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2978784/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2980115/posts
Did Hagel rig vote to win Senate seat? Details revealed in magazine profile on alleged GOP plan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2988711/posts
CHUCK HAGEL FLOATING IMPEACHMENT
Neal Nuze | 03/26/2007 | Neal Boortz
Posted on 3/26/2007, 9:59:13 PM by NotchJohnson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1807241/posts
Hagel got the job BECAUSE he was soft, and would be a yes man for Obama at the DOD. Everyone in the military knows it.
He should nominate Oprah.
Hagel isn’t qualified for the job IMO, but the main problem is, and has always been the narcissistic Obama, and those that financed his ascendance to where he is at.
26%, that’s rich. I wonder who they asked. This statistic is as bogus as Zero’s approval rating, which has been perpetually stuck at 43% since 2010. Your dog think 0bama is an idiot.
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