AND YES, THERE'S HIM – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  Once the sweepers come through and clean up the mess from today's inauguration, we will be left with the prospect of confirmation hearings for Obama's little national-security team - Kerry, Hagel, and John Brennan, his candidate for director of Central Intelligence.  The three mouseketeers.

Brennan will presumably replace David Petraeus, forced out of the CIA by a romantic scandal that could have easily been worked through without the loss of the general.  It's increasingly clear that Obama wanted Petraeus out because Petraeus wouldn't play the company game and provide cover for Obama's blunders at Benghazi.  Brennan is much more the team player, and much more the appeaser of Islamism, Obama's kind of guy.  (By the way, there is also press speculation today that Obama is forcing out CENTCOM commander, Marine General James Mattis, because he is too tough on Iran.  No confirmation yet, but logical.)

The most controversial of the nominees is Hagel.  Although his confirmation is virtually assured by the perfidy of Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, whose approval of Hagel is an act of naked political prostitution, the more we learn about Hagel, the more disturbed we become.  From Breitbart: 

Former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) has spent a lot of time pressing for international reductions in nuclear arsenals.

And since joining hands with the anti-nuclear weapons group Global Zero in 2009, Hagel has not only supported a nuclear weapons-free America, but has even advocated unilateral U.S disarmament, "if necessary."

Hagel has also joined the board of directors for the Ploughshares Fund--a group which funds research into "nuclear disarmament and arms control."

Because Hagel aspires to the role of Sec. of Defense, these efforts toward nuclear disarmament are problematic, to say the least. Especially when one considers that now is a time when America has to update its nuclear arsenal and nuclear delivery devices. (Both the arsenal and the delivery devices are growing old.)

In other words, now is a time when America must be advancing various aspects of its nuclear weapons program, not cutting back.

Hagel appears to be 180 degrees out of sync on these things.

COMMENT:  Pretty scary, isn't it?  This is your new secretary of not-too-much defense.  Any interest on the part of the Washington press corps?  Most of them seem to think Hagel is a perfect choice for the job. 

January 21, 2013