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Obama To Tap Brennan as CIA Director; Obama To Nominate Hagel as Defense Secretary

Aired January 07, 2013 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington with CNN special coverage as President Obama prepares to announce two major Cabinet nominations.

It all happens in about 30 minutes from now in the East Room of the White House. We'll bring it to you live, every step of the way.

The stakes right now are very, very significant. The president, first of all, will nominate the former Senator from Nebraska, Chuck Hagel, to be the next Secretary of Defense. He will also nominate his homeland security adviser at the White House, John Brennan, to become the next CIA director.

Both of these men have certain controversies. They will be grilled during their confirmation hearings in the Senate.

Some Republicans, for example, point to comments that Senator Hagel made back in 2007 that they perceived as being anti-Jewish or anti- Israel. They've also said he's soft on Iran and sanctions toward Iran.

He was criticized for calling an ambassadorial nominee, quote, "aggressively gay" back in the '90s during the Clinton administration. He's since apologized for those comments.

Brennan has been criticized for his connection to the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques under the Bush administration, more recently, for his support of the controversial drone program in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere.

We're covering all angles of these two nominations. Our chief national correspondent, John King, is here in Washington with me as is our national political correspondent, Jim Acosta. He's standing by on Capitol Hill.

Brianna Keilar is live from the White House. Gloria Borger is here, as well, our chief political analyst.

We've got a lot to discuss. Let's take a look, first, at Senator Chuck Hagel. John, let's talk about Senator Hagel. We've covered him for a long time.

He was well known when he was a Senator from Nebraska, a member of the foreign relations committee, a member of the intelligence committee.

He's been out of the public view, by and large, since retiring from the Senate.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Teaching at Georgetown University, the head of a foreign policy think tank called The Atlanta Council, so he's been active in Washington, but he's been out of the public eye, obviously.

And you noted some of the controversies. Interesting here, the criticism of Mr. Brennan is that he's too tough, maybe, too muscular, enhanced interrogation tactics, the drone strikes.

The criticism of Senator Hagel, you have a Democratic president picking a Republican for the Pentagon and the criticism from his fellow Republicans is that he's too soft, not strong enough on Israel, not tough enough against Iran, talked in the past about maybe having a dialogue with Hamas and Hezbollah.

And, so, it's an interesting policy divide we're going to see here, but, as you know from this town, some of it's personal, as well. He had a breaking with the relationship he had once, a very close relationship with his fellow Vietnam veteran, John McCain. They separated.

Part of it's - so, part of it's policy. Part of it's personal. If you do the math right now, yeah, he has a tougher hill than most nominees to climb, but the president likes him. The president is comfortable with him.

Senator Hagel's going to have to do a little diplomacy in the halls of the Senate and he knows how that works.

BLITZER: Yeah and Leon Panetta, by the way, has just arrived over at the White House. He's going to be in the East Room for this announcement. The president will nominate whom he hopes will be his next Defense Secretary and his next CIA director.

Does he really have any chance of not being confirmed right now, Gloria?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it's going to be a long battle and I think it could be a tough battle for him.

BLITZER: It'll be very hard for Democrats to go against the president's nominee.

BORGER: Well, it will. But I was told today by a senior Democratic Congressional aide that there are at least 10 Democrats right now who he said are either undecided or concerned about Chuck Hagel.

Now, that doesn't mean they are no votes, Wolf, but it means they're going to be called upon to answer an awful - he's going to be called upon to answer an awful lot of questions about issues that John was talking about, about Israel, about sanctions on Iran and about how tough he is. Now, from the president's point of view, politically, isn't it a good idea to have a Republican, if you're going to downsize the Pentagon? Democrats are often charged with being soft on defense.

So, if you're going to downsize the Pentagon, you're going to get out of Afghanistan, isn't it a good idea to have a Republican running your Pentagon? That's their point of view.

KING: And I think one big question is does a Republican or a group of Republicans decide not to filibuster? Remember ...

BLITZER: To filibuster, you need 60 votes.

BORGER: Or put a hold.

KING: You need 60. Put a hold. Then you raise the bar to the 60 votes and, look, it has nothing to do with the fiscal cliff, right?

Chuck Hagel has nothing to do with it, but Republicans are coming out of an election they lost. There are still wounds from losing the election to President Obama.

A lot of the conservative base of the Republican party is not happy with this initial deal on the fiscal cliff and, so, they're looking for Republicans to plant flags.

Now, taxes and spending has nothing to do with Chuck Hagel except for Gloria's point about there will be a downsizing at the Pentagon. Chuck Hagel has been publicly on record saying it's too bloated. You need to do things about it.

So, while it's not connected to some of the other games of political chess in Washington, in some ways, everything is connected.

BORGER: And, you know, the White House makes the calculation that, if Republicans are going to oppose Chuck Hagel because he ended up being opposed to the war in Iraq, that's a fight the White House is happy to have because more than half of the public is opposed -- was opposed to the war in Iraq, too, in the end.

So, I think that this is something they feel that they can do. They wouldn't have nominated him, Wolf, if they didn't think he was going to get confirmed, but I think it's a fight they've decided they, politically, shouldn't shy away from.

BLITZER: Here's what's intriguing to me and I'm going to bring Jim Acosta into this conversation in a moment. Brianna Keilar is standing by over at the White House.

But, John, the fact that the president, despite all this buildup in recent weeks against Chuck Hagel from various quarters, decided, you know what? I'm going to fight for my guy. I'm going to put his name up for the nomination, especially in aftermath of what happened to U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who a lot of people thought could be the next Secretary of State. She withdrew her name for consideration in the aftermath of the Benghazi comments that she made, but the president was willing to fight for Hagel. What does that say about this president of the United States?

KING: Well, it tells you, number one, he wants to prove, I won the election. Thank you very much. I should get my team. There's nothing in Chuck Hagel's resume.

You might disagree with him on this issue or that issue. If you look at his resume, you look at his military service, it's hard to argue he's not qualified to be Defense Secretary.

Some people will raise questions about management experience. It's a big bureaucracy. Is he ready to do that?

But the president number one, I'm willing to spend some political capital. We thought it might come over Susan Rice. It's now going to come over Chuck Hagel.

Number two, remember, he carried over George W. Bush's Defense Secretary, Bob Gates. He put his former rival, Hillary Clinton, at the State Department. Political calculations in the first term, nation security term.

Here is a guy who doesn't face re-election. He wants his team. He wants people he's comfortable with. He wants people he's like-minded with and he decided, you know what, I'm going to have my guys in the second term and, if I have to get a little bruised up to get them, I'll do it.

BORGER: You know and I think their bond kind of goes back to Iraq, being two Senators who ended up opposing the war. And I think they became close and don't forget ...

BLITZER: They traveled to Iraq together.

BORGER: They traveled to the Middle East together. And I think there's something else that, if you talk to people in the administration, this is a president who believes that Chuck Hagel's not going to be intimidated by those generals.

And that was very important, I remember, as Barack Obama went through the process of deciding what to do in Afghanistan. He ended up going for the surge, but he went through this -- remember that whole long strategic review of Afghanistan?

One of his key concerns, if you talk to his advisers, was he needed to make this decision without feeling like he was being pushed into it and I think he feels that Chuck Hagel would not be pushed around, if you will, by the generals.

BLITZER: Here this former sergeant during the Vietnam war is not going to be intimidated by these generals.

I know Chuck Hagel. He's a very tough guy, a very smart guy. Let's go up to Capitol Hill. Jim Acosta is standing by. Let's dig a little bit deeper right now, Jim.

What are you hearing not only from Democrats, but from Republicans on the Hill about this other Republican, Chuck Hagel. What's the loudest outcry, for example, coming from his own party, the GOP?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I think you have to start with what Lindsey Graham said on "State of the Union" yesterday on CNN, those comments that he made where he said that he would be the most antagonistic Secretary of Defense toward Israel in our nation's history.

That is very tough talk coming from a Senator from Chuck Hagel's own party. Remember that Chuck Hagel served two terms as a United States Senator from the Republican Party up here.

And I talked to an administration official over at the White House about some of those comments from Lindsey Graham. And getting to what John King and Gloria Borger were talking about a few moments ago, there is a feeling over at the White House that some of this is a little bit of a grudge that's being held by some of these Senators because of Chuck Hagel's eventual opposition to the war in Iraq.

And he made some very tough statements about the surge and the wisdom of the surge. And I talked to an administration official about this over the phone earlier this morning. And listen to this comment that I got from this official.

He said, "It's one thing to posture on a talk show. It's another thing to look a two-term Senator in the eye and say I'm voting against you because you turned against the war in Iraq."

And then that official went on to say, if the Republicans want to vote against Chuck Hagel, this would be another example of the Republican Party, in the words of this official, being in the political wilderness.

So, it does seem, to a certain extent, that the White House is readying itself for some political combat when it comes to dealing with this nomination.

And, you know, you mentioned earlier some of those comments that Chuck Hagel made back in 2006 when he said, quote, "the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here on Capitol Hill."

He was talking about pro-Israeli special interest groups in Washington, D.C. and that has been, perhaps, maybe the most toxic or radioactive comments that he's made that he's had to explain.

But I did talk to the person to whom Chuck Hagel made those comments, Aaron David Miller, who is a Middle East analyst with the Wilson Center here in Washington. I'm going to be interviewing him later on this afternoon.

He defends Chuck Hagel and says that, when Chuck Hagel made those remarks he did not mean to say that -- anything that sounds anything remotely close to being anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish. And, so, I'm going to be hearing from him.

He said that those comments have sort of been hijacked -- is the term he used -- to really railroad Chuck Hagel's nomination here.

So, obviously, there are several touchy subjects here that Chuck Hagel's going to have to work through, but, at this point, not hearing from enough Republicans and Democrats to say that this nomination is doomed by any stretch, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yeah, I suspect, once he testifies before the Senate armed services committee, he will underscore his deep commitment to a strong U.S./Israeli relationship. I have no doubt about that.

He will answer a lot of these questions during the course of intense questioning, as well.

Everyone stand by. We're getting closer to the top of the hour when the president will be in the East Room of the White House, not only to announce the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be the next Defense Secretary, but John Brennan to be the next CIA director.

We're taking a closer look at John Brennan. Who is he? His credentials, his track record here in Washington as we wait for the president of the United States.

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BLITZER: getting closer to the top of the hour where the president will make a couple of major announcements here in Washington, nominating John Brennan to be the next director of the CIA. The key position had been filled by general David Petraeus, who you will remember, stepped down in November after an extra marital affair with his biographer.

From his role in the hunt for Osama bin Laden to his Bush-era interrogations, CNN's Chris Lawrence takes a closer look at the man who could be the next head of the CIA.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John Brennan is the White House's point man for targeting terrorists, an office in the West Wing and the ear of President Obama.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Going to the CIA, you are further away from the West Wing of the White House and immediate access to the president.

LAWRENCE: But in a way, Brennan would be coming home. He joined the CIA after reading a want ad in the newspaper, learned Arabic and became a station chief in Saudi Arabia.

JOHN BRENNAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Al Qaeda is on the ropes. LAWRENCE: Brennan was a candidate for CIA director four years ago, but he pulled out of contention when critics slammed his involvement in Bush-era interrogations.

The job went to Leon Panetta and later David Petraeus, but the former general had a culture clash with some career CIA analysts.

Following outsiders, Panetta and Petraeus, it may be easier for Brennan.

BILL HARLOW, FORMER CIA CHIEF SPOKESMAN: They'll think, here's a guy who understands us and will have our backs and defend us.

LAWRENCE: Brennan was intimately involved in the run-up to the assault on Osama bin Laden.

BERGEN: At one point, the analysts came back in, they said, well, you know, whoever is living in this compound has a dog and, of course, very observe Muslims don't have dogs. But Brennan had been on the bin Laden account for -- himself for 15 years. And he remembered that, in fact, bin Laden had a dog when he was living in Sudan.

LAWRENCE: Brennan supported the raid, but afterwards he initially implied that bin Laden was armed, when he wasn't. Brennan suggested bin Laden cowardly used a human shield, when he did not.

BRENNAN: There was a female who was, in fact, in the line of fire, that reportedly was used as a shield, to shield bin Laden from the incoming fire.

LAWRENCE: Brennan broke new ground last year.

BRENNAN: We can be more transparent and still ensure our nation's security.

LAWRENCE: He became the first official to publicly explain how the government uses drones to target terrorists.

BERGEN: John Brennan is somebody whose within the room when all these decisions were -- was made and is one of the principle architects of this campaign. This is surely going to come up in his confirmation hearing.

LAWRENCE: So will accusations Brennan helped manipulate leaks to boost the administration's national security credentials. An unlike the adviser job, which does not need Congress' approval, this time Brennan will have to face his critics head on.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And CNN's national security analyst, Peter Bergen, is joining us right now.

Give us your quick reaction. What do you think, John Brennan as the next CIA director?

BERGEN: Well, you know, he's lived the last four years, essentially, in a basement office in the West Wing and has been very close to the president and has been in the room for all these major decisions. He's also, you know, a lifetime -- almost lifetime veteran of the CIA. He was station chief in Saudi Arabia. He speaks Arabic, which obviously is quite useful when one of the biggest challenges facing the president in his second term is the future direction and shape of the Arab awakening or Arab Spring. You know, he will make a very good choice --very good choices as the next director.

He will, of course, be a lightning rod for the controversy surrounding enhanced -- so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, which are shown in the film "Zero Dark Thirty," which millions of Americans are going to see in the next few days when it gets released nationally. And also he will be a lightning rod for questions about the drone campaign, which the United Nations has recently said it's going to start an investigation of.

BLITZER: But barring some major surprise, it would be amazing to me, it would be extraordinary, if he did not get confirmed. I suspect he's going to easily go through that confirmation process. Do you have any inside information, Peter, because I know you watch this closely, why the president felt more comfortable with Brennan to be his CIA director than the -- than Mike Morell, who has been the acting CIA director since Petraeus stepped down back in November? He was the number two in the CIA. I assume he'll stay on as number two.

BERGEN: I think, you know, Brennan, at the end of the day, enjoys sort of two-fold advantage, I think. One is, he's a real CIA insider. He spent most of his career there. And yet, on the other hand, he's also an outsider who spent four years at the White House. The director of the CIA, it's a highly political position. You're dealing with Congress. You're dealing with the White House. And I think, you know, Brennan has all that. Mike Morell is also very capable as the acting director of the CIA, but he's been a lifetime, you know, within the agency and doesn't have this very close, personal bond with Obama.

And one other thing, by the way, Wolf, I think which is important. Brennan was somebody like Chuck Hagel who got involved in the Obama presidential campaign long before people thought Obama was really, you know, going to be able to really challenge Hillary Clinton. And I think that kind of thing goes a very long way with the people making the decisions in Obama's inner circle about who gets which job.

BLITZER: All right, Peter, stand by. We're going to continue to assess both of these nominations. The president nominating John Brennan to be the next CIA director, Chuck Hagel to be the next Secretary of Defense. We're going to be hearing from the president and all of these others coming up in a few minutes. We're going to the White House. Much more of the coverage right after this.

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BLITZER: Remember, we're standing by to hear from the president of the United States. He'll be in the East Room, right at the top of the hour, with two nominations, the next Secretary of Defense, the next CIA director.

So, how did former Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska find himself to be the president's nominee to become the next Secretary of Defense? Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chuck Hagel's view of the world today was shaped when he served with his brother, Tom, in Vietnam. Hagel recalled being burned in a landmine attack.

FMR. SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: The pain. And we didn't have any medics there with us. And we did have some guys that, again, I think that were in pretty bad shape, so the morphine, everything, was used for them.

STARR: The brothers saved each other's lives in combat.

HAGEL: Thinking to myself, you know, if I ever get out of all of this, I am going to do everything I can to assure that war is the last resort. That we, a nation, a people, calls upon to settle a dispute. The horror of it, the pain of it, the suffering of it.

STARR: After coming home, Hagel worked briefly as a newscaster, then had a career in business before entering public service as a Senator from Nebraska from 1997 to 2009. Most recently, he has taught at Georgetown University while co-chairing the president's intelligence advisory board.

What everyone who knows him well will tell you, Chuck Hagel has independent views on national security. It's caused him problems. To the dismay of fellow Republicans, Hagel opposed the troop surge in Iraq, as did President Obama, but then opposed Obama's surge in Afghanistan. He has called for deep cuts in defense spending.

Reshaping spending, dealing with Iran's nuclear programs, and being ready for potential involvement in the war in Syria are all top priorities this winter. That means the political buzz saws are out again. Like Hagel, William Cohen was a Republican Senator before he was Bill Clinton's Secretary of Defense.

WILLIAM COHEN, FMR. DEFENSE SECRETARY: I think he'll face the same challenge in terms of people on the Democratic side saying, hey, wait, we've got some pretty talented people that are -- and could step in at a moment's notice and fill that spot. And the Republicans will say, why are you helping out a Democratic administration?

STARR: One key Republican already is challenging Hagel.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I am concerned about many of the comments that he made and has made, like reference to, quote, "Jewish lobby," which I don't believe exists. I believe a pro-Israel lobby exists.

STARR: Other insist Hagel is not anti-Israel. AARON DAVID MILLER, JOURNALIST: He belongs to a sort of tough-minded, in this case, Republican view of Israel that, in fact, accepts the reality that while the United States and Israel are very close allies and will remain close allies, their views on every issue cannot be expected to coincide.

STARR: And critics in the gay and lesbian community have turned around their opposition to Hagel. In 1998, Hagel opposed James Hormel, an openly gay man, to an ambassadors post. Hagel now says, "my comments 14 years ago in 1998 were insensitive. They do not reflect my views. I apologize to Ambassador Hormel and any LGBT Americans who may question my commitment to their civil rights."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And Barbara's joining us right now.

Barbara, so on that last point that you just made, I assume he is totally committed to making sure equal rights for gays and lesbians serving in the United States military will be fully honored, no going back to "don't ask, don't tell" or anything along those lines?

STARR: Well, that's absolutely right, Wolf. When you are the Secretary of Defense in this country, you carry out the president's policies. This is mandatory. There's no choice on these matters. So by accepting the nomination and being willing to serve as Secretary of Defense, he will have to do this. And, in fact, many members of the gay and lesbian community are looking for additional rights to be granted to them when they are partners of either those serving in the military or in the military themselves.

I think, for most Americans, one of the -- besides all of the questions we've discussed here, what would lead to troops being taken into another conflict, into another war after so many years in Iraq and Afghanistan? That may be the real bottom line for many people outside of Washington. And that means Hagel is going to have to give his view of how he sees Syria, Iran, North Korea, the real threats out there from al Qaeda and where he feels he would recommend the use of military force.

BLITZER: We're going to pick up that. We're only a few moments away from the top of the hour. This special coverage will continue in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: President Obama about to make two major national security nominations. We're only minutes away. And we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer and this is CNN's special NEWSROOM coverage of the president's announcement. He'll nominate the former Senator, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, to become the next Defense Secretary, and his counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan, to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The president has already picked Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts as his nominee to become the next Secretary of State.