US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has resigned, becoming the first victim of the Democrats' loss in the mid-term election. President Barack Obama, many believe, thinks it's time to revamp his national security, especially because after assuming office in 2009, he has been reluctant to use the armed forces in resolving any crisis. Even Russia's handling of the South Ossetia and Abkhazia crisis in 2008 did not prevent Obama from "resetting" Washington's relations with Moscow after he entered the White House.

Given the pressure from the Senate not to be militarily involved in Libya in 2011, he withdrew US forces two days after launching air attacks on Muammar Gaddafi's army. And despite the Iranian nuclear issue dragging on for about a decade, Obama refused to push the envelope and, instead, opted for negotiations. Besides, he has responded very cautiously to the Syrian crisis.

The same logic explains the lack of effective US diplomacy in dealing with the Ukraine crisis and Obama's unwillingness to send US combat troops back to Iraq to take on the Islamic State.

These decisions, or the lack of them, did not have much to do with the Pentagon. But someone had to face the music to justify the impending changes in the US security policy for the rest of Obama's term in office. Thus Hagel became the scapegoat.

Hagel was not the primary policymaker in Washington; he mostly resonated Obama's decisions and was largely responsible for implementing his policies. Besides, he had been crippled by the loss of about $100 billion a year in the defense budget for the past two years, which antagonized his generals. On one hand, the US armed forces have become increasingly demoralized. On the other, the Republican-dominated Congress has become more intolerant of the budgetary sequestration that has led to a decline in US dominance in different regions of the world.

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