Politics | Chuck Hagel Obama Picks Chuck Hagel for Pentagon: Report Announcement expected tomorrow By Polly Davis Doig Posted Jan 6, 2013 8:05 AM CST Copied In this June 26, 2008 file photo, then Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., speaks on foreign policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke, File) President Obama has settled on a nominee to succeed Leon Panetta at the Pentagon, and it is indeed Chuck Hagel, reports Mike Allen at Politico. “Chuck Hagel is a decorated war hero who would be the first enlisted soldier and Vietnam veteran to go on to serve as Secretary of Defense," says a Dem insider, who praises Hagel as representing "the proud tradition of a strong, bipartisan foreign policy." The White House knows the controversial Republican will ignite debate. An announcement is expected tomorrow. So much for the nation's first female Defense chief. Read These Next A well-known nutrition influencer died after a home birth. Plane windshield partially shatters mid-flight. There's a suspect. RFK Jr. offered his wife a fake separation. 'Butt-breathing' could be the future for struggling patients. Report an error