Obama: Decision ‘does not come easily’

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s decision to resign “does not come easily to him,” President Obama said during brief remarks to announce the departure Monday at the White House.

“If there’s one thing I know about Chuck, it’s that he does not make this or any decision lightly,” Obama said to a group of reporters and top administration officials.

{mosads}Hagel’s surprise resignation announcement comes amid reports that the former Republican senator had struggled to break into the president’s insular inner circle. 

He was painted as an relative outsider compared to old hands like national security adviser Susan Rice and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey, and has caused headaches with statements on issues like Ebola and the mission against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) 

Obama said the two had begun discussing a potential departure weeks ago.

“Chuck came to me to discuss the final quarter of my presidency and determined that having guided the department through this transition, it was an appropriate time for him to complete his service,” Obama said.

Hagel did not expand on the reason for his departure during his remarks on Monday, saying only that the job had “been the greatest privilege of my life.” 

But he also said he would continue to “support” the president.

“And as we know, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, it is a team effort,” he continued. “And that’s part of the fun of it, to help build teams and to work together to make things happen for the good of the country and make a better world.”

But in a separate statement to the Pentagon staff, Hagel said the decision came “after much discussion.”

“The president and I agreed that now was the right time for new leadership here at the Pentagon,” he said.

Hagel will remain at the Pentagon until his replacement is confirmed.

For the White House, Hagel’s departure could raise questions about the way the president integrates advice from the Pentagon. Former Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta both wrote memoirs critical of the president’s military decisions after leaving the administration.