(Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday nominated former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to head the CIA, potentially setting up at least one Senate confirmation battle and establishing a tough tone to start his second term.
Obama moved ahead with the picks despite concerns raised by senators on both sides of the aisle about them. Hagel has made controversial comments about Israel and gays while Brennan faces questions over his views as a CIA official in the Bush administration on the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, widely considered torture, on terrorism suspects.
"I hope that the Senate will act on these confirmations promptly. When it comes to national security, we don't like to leave a lot of gaps between the time that one set of leaders transitions out and another transitions in. So we need to get moving quickly on this," Obama said in announcing them.
The addition of Hagel and Brennan, along with Democratic Senator John Kerry as nominee for secretary of state, rounds out Obama's national security team as he faces daunting challenges of winding down the war inAfghanistan, dealing with the Iranian nuclear standoff and curbing military spending.
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