Sen. Chuck Hagel’s Wide-Ranging Endorsements, Key Positions

Former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), President Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, has been endorsed for the position by a wide range of former generals, diplomats, and senior government officials. The following is a guide to the wide range of endorsements enjoyed by Hagel, as well as to some of his positions on key policy issues.

Letter from Retired Generals Endorsing Hagel (12/21/12)
Signatories:
1)    Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft, USAF (Ret.) former National Security Advisor to PresidentsGerald Ford and George H.W. Bush
2)    Admiral William J. Fallon, USN (Ret.), former Commander of U.S. Central Command and U.S.Pacific Command
3)    General Lester L. Lyles, USAF (Ret.), former Commander, Air Force Material Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
4)    Admiral Robert J. Natter, USN (Ret.), former Commander of U.S. Atlantic Fleet/Fleet Forces Command
5)    General Chuck Wald, USAF (Ret.), former Deputy Commander of United States European Command
6)    General Anthony Zinni, USMC (Ret.), former Commander in Chief of United States Central Command
7)    Lieutenant General John “Glad” Castellaw, USMC (Ret.), former Chief of Staff of United States Central Command
8)    Lieutenant General Daniel Christman, USA (Ret.), former Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point
9)    Lieutenant General Robert G. Gard, Jr., USA, (Ret.), former President of the National Defense University
10)    Brigadier General Stephen Cheney, USMC (Ret.), former Inspector General of the Marine Corps
11)    Brigadier General Dr. John H. Johns, USA (Ret.), former Assistant Commander of the 1st Infantry Division and Professor of National Security Strategy at the National Defense University

Ambassadors Letter (12/20/12)
Signatories:
1)    Nicholas Burns, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador to NATO and Greece
2)    Ryan Crocker, former Ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan
3)    Edward Djerejian, former Ambassador to Israel and Syria
4)    William Harrop, former Ambassador to Israel
5)    Daniel Kurtzer, former Ambassador to Israel and Egypt
6)    Sam Lewis, former Ambassador to Israel
7)    William H. Luers, former Ambassador to Venezuela and Czechoslovakia
8)    Thomas R. Pickering, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador to Israel and Russia
9)    Frank G. Wisner, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Ambassador to Egypt and India

Bipartisan Group Letter in Support of Chuck Hagel
Signatories:

David Boren, former U.S. Senator (D-OK)
Nancy Kassebaum-Baker, former U.S. Senator (R-KS)
Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor
Thomas Pickering, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs
Frank Carlucci, former Secretary of Defense
Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Advisor
William Fallon, former Commander, U.S. Central Command
Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Gary Hart, former U.S.Senator (D-CO)
James Wolfensohn, former President of World Bank Group
Carla Hills, former USTA Representative

Former Secretaries of State, Defense, and National Security Advisors (1/24/13)
Hon. Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State
Hon. Samuel Berger, former National Security Advisor
Hon. Harold Brown, former Secretary of Defense
Hon. Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor
Hon. William Cohen, former Secretary of Defense
Hon. Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense
Hon. James Jones, former National Security Advisor
Hon. Melvin Laird, former Secretary of Defense
Hon. Robert McFarlane, former National Security Advisor
Hon. William Perry, former Secretary of Defense
Hon. Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor
Hon. George Shultz, former Secretary of State
Hon. Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Advisor

BIPARTISAN ARMS CONTROL EXPERTS 1/24/13
Bruce Blair, Member, Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board and Co-Founder, Global Zero
Richard Burt, Former Chief Negotiator, Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) and US Chairman, Global Zero
Joe Cirincione, President, Ploughshares Fund
Amb. Ralph Earle II , Former Chief SALT Negotiator with the Soviet Union and Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
Amb. Thomas Graham, Jr., Lightbridge Corporation & Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation National Advisory Board Member, Former Special Representative of the President for Arms Control, Nonproliferation and Disarmament
Amb. Robert Grey, Former Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament
John Holum, Former Director, US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency & Undersecretary of State
Jack F. Matlock, Jr., Special Assistant to President Reagan for National Security, 1983-1986, U.S. Ambassador to USSR, 1987-1991, Author of Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended
Amb. Thomas Pickering, Former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador to Russia, the UN, India and Israel
Richard Rhodes, Science historian and Pulitzer Prize recipient; preeminent historian of the nuclear age

Endorsements from other distinguished individuals

1. William Cohen, former Senator and Secretary of Defense
2. James L. Jones, former National Security Advisor
3. Alon Pinkas, former Israeli Ambassador and Consul General in New York
4. Paul D. Eaton, Major General (ret.)
5. John Warner, former Senator (R-VA) and Secretary of the Navy
6. Jan Scruggs, president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
7. Max Cleland, former Senator (D-GA) and Secretary of Veterans Affairs
8. Michael Guest, former Ambassador to Romania and the first openly gay Senate-confirmed ambassador
9. Lee Gunn, USN Vice Admiral (Ret.)
10. Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense
11. Colin Powell, former Secretary of State
12. Stanley McChrystal, former top general in Afghanistan
13. Richard Burt, senior diplomat in the Reagan administration
14. Michael Hayden, former CIA Director

Chain Reaction
Council for a Livable World is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit,
non-partisan advocacy organization dedicated to reducing the danger of
nuclear weapons and increasing national security.

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