Update: Chuck Hagel to replace Gates? McDonough replaces Lippert and speechwriter Ben Rhodes will take on National Security duties; Backlash? Obama’s Deputy National Security Adviser Resigns(Lippert was Obama’s NSA adviser during the campaign also)
Update: Ace HQ posts on a ROY that Hagel is in and Gates out within a year. Sounds like peeps are getting clued into the antiHawk stance of TOTUS and withdrawing from posts. Get out of there Hillary!
As Think Progress notes, last night the boss floated a very well-sourced rumor that Secretary Gates will be out by the end of the year and replaced by Chuck Hagel, who the boss described as an “advocate of retreat everywhere.”
Taking Lippert’s place as chief of staff to the National Security Council will be Denis McDonough, a deputy national security adviser, and chief foreign policy speechwriter Ben Rhodes will step up to assume some of McDonough’s responsibilities, the administration announced.
Moderate in the Middle 