Obama appoints former GOP senator to intelligence post

Chuck Hagel will co-chair the President's Intelligence Advisory Board

Published October 28, 2009 5:30PM (EDT)

By the end of his time in office, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., had managed to alienate most of his fellow Republicans by taking over his colleague John McCain's old role as party maverick. But in doing so, Hagel had become a popular figure in Democratic circles, at least for his foreign policy views, and the rumor mill even named him as a possible secretary of State in the Obama administration.

Hagel didn't end up getting that post, which went to Hillary Clinton. In fact, until Wednesday, he didn't have any position in the administration. He does now, though -- President Obama just named the former senator as the co-chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. According to Foreign Policy's blog The Cable, in that role, "Hagel will be charged with overseeing the work of the intelligence agencies for the president and investigating violations of law by the clandestine community."

Another former senator, Democrat David Boren of Oklahoma, will be the board's other co-chair.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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