Chuck Hagel
Chuck Hagel
Charles Timothy "Chuck" Hagel is an American politician who was the 24th United States Secretary of Defense for two years in the Obama administration. He previously served as United States Senator from Nebraska from 1997 to 2009...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth4 October 1946
CountryUnited States of America
committing consequences country foreign tend understanding
Too often in Washington we tend to see foreign policy as an abstraction, with little understanding of what we are committing our country to: the complications and consequences of endeavors.
arch close defense domestic falls foreign national needs open policy windows
Our foreign policy needs to support our energy, economic, defense and domestic policies. It all falls within the arch of national interest. There will be windows of opportunity, but they will open and close quickly.
constraint expand expansion freedom interest means shared understood value
Our alliances should be understood as a means to expand our influence, not as a constraint on our power. The expansion of democracy and freedom in the world should be a shared interest and value with all nations.
congress defining elect future open race seats senator serious state
This will be the defining race for the future of our state, ... We will elect a new senator and a new congressman. There are 20 seats open in the state legislature. This is serious business.
amount blank check hurt mean money national time unlimited wants
Well, no American wants to in any way hurt our capabilities to national defense, but that doesn't mean an unlimited amount of money, and a blank check for anything they want at any time, for any purpose. Not at all.
defense issue leadership letters ourselves personally secretary signing ways
We're isolating ourselves in the world ... And I think that the leadership of the Pentagon has done that in many ways to us, ... This issue of a secretary of defense not personally signing these letters is just astounding.
china delicate future handled point relationship republic
We are at a very important and delicate point in our relationship with the People's Republic of China and how this is handled will go a long way as to the future of that relationship,
allies endanger lose rash stability time using
If we lose our allies and do something very precipitous, it would endanger not just Americans around the world, but it would endanger this country, our security, stability in the world for a long time to come because we were rash in using our power.
congress exercising historians matters step toward turning
Historians will look back on this day and say this was a turning point, ... This is a significant step toward the Congress exercising its constitutional responsibilities over matters of war.
anybody colleagues half sure terms threaten took
We took a day and a half to make sure that no millionaires could oust any of my colleagues from their seats, ... And many of my colleagues used terms like, 'my seat,' 'our seat,' don't let anybody threaten that, of course.
achieve building chinese continued economic future goal human includes leaders rights social stability
China's leaders will not achieve their long-term goal of social stability and continued economic development without building a future that includes human rights for all Chinese citizens.
forward supporting
I look forward to enthusiastically supporting his nomination,
concerned individual power
I have always been concerned about centralization of power and eroding individual rights.
beyond met worked
I have met her, but beyond that, I really haven't worked with her. I know very little about her.