After the surprising announcement of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s ouster Monday morning, NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reported that leadership in the Department of Defense had “lost confidence” in him.
According to NBC’s chief Pentagon correspondent, Hagel had trouble “articulating the details of many of the operations,” with it appearing he “didn’t even have a grasp of them.”
President Barack Obama announced Hagel’s resignation Monday morning at the White House.
“The White House and many here in the Pentagon apparently have lost confidence in Hagel,” Miklaszewski said. “He often had trouble articulating the details of many of the operations, many of the incantations of what goes on here at the White House, and he had a difficult time expressing those thoughts.”
“It appeared that he sometimes didn’t even have a grasp of them. And, quite frankly, according to one senior official, the White House and DoD leadership pretty much lost confidence in Hagel,” he continued. “There were some reports that he had resigned voluntarily. Officials say that’s really not the fact and that he’s in fact been asked to step down and resign.”