Jan. 7 Photo Brief: Chuck Hagel and John Brennan nominated to top level security posts, International Kite Festival, air pollution in Tehran, the Black Nazarene
President Barack Obama nominates Chuck Hagel and John Brennan to top level security posts, International Kite Festival, air pollution in Tehran, the Black Nazarene and more in today’s daily brief.
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- U.S. President Barack Obama (C) speaks during a news conference with chief counterterrorism adviser John Brennan (L), and former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NB) in the East Room at the White House on January 7, 2013 in Washington, DC. Pending approval by the Senate, the nomination of former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NB) as Secretary of Defense will replace Leon Panetta and chief counterterrorism adviser John Brennan will be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency following the resignation of Army Gen. David Petraeus. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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- Boys watch television on a street in Old Sanaa city January 7, 2013. (Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)
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- FIFA Men’s Ballon D’Or of the Year 2012 nominee Lionel Messi of Argentina looks at the trophy during a news conference before the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2012 soccer awards ceremony at the Kongresshaus in Zurich January 7, 2013. (Michael Buholzer/Reuters)
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- Passengers wrap themselves in a blanket as they wait to board a train on a cold winter morning in New Delhi January 7, 2013. The current cold weather in northern India has killed more than 100 homeless people, an aid group said last week. Temperatures in New Delhi have dipped to 2.4 degrees Celsius (36.32 degrees Fahrenheit), according to information posted on India’s meteorological department website. (Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters)
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- A father and son return home with vegetables, as smoke from a pro-government forces artillery strike ascends in the background, in the al-Amaria neighbourhoodin the city of Aleppo, on January 6, 2013. Syria’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad in a rare televised speech denounced the opposition as “slaves” of the West and called for a national dialogue conference to be followed by a referendum on a national charter and parliamentary elections. (Stringer/Getty Images)
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- The replica of the religious icon the Black Nazarene is seen during a procession in Manila on January 7, 2013. Filipino pilgrims began arriving in the capital Manila for the annual religious festival that takes place on January 9. (Jay Directo/AFP/Getty Images)
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- The Costa Concordia cruise ship lays aground near the port on January 7, 2013 on the Italian island of Giglio. The giant Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground near a Tuscan island and pitched leaving 32 people dead. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images)
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- People sit on a horse-drawn cart as they attend Christmas celebrations in the town of Richev, some 290 km south from Minsk, on January 7, 2013. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7 in the Middle East, Russia and other Orthodox churches that use the old Julian calendar instead of the 17th-century Gregorian calendar adopted by Catholics, Protestants, Greek Orthodox and commonly used attendsin secular life around the world. (Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Participants march with national flags during “Alilo”, a religious procession, to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas in Tbilisi January 7, 2013. Believers celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the Julian calendar used by the country’s Orthodox church. (David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)
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- Photographs of Cornelia Crilley (L) and Ellen Hover are seen before a news conference with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance regarding the sentencing of convicted California serial killer Rodney Alcala in New York January 7, 2013. Alcala, known as the Dating Game killer thanks to his appearance on the television game show more than 30 years ago, was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison on Monday for murdering two New York women in the 1970s. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
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- A picture taken on January 7, 2013 shows a bird flying in front of buildings in the polluted skyline of the Iranian capital Tehran. Air pollution in Tehran has left 4,460 people dead in a year, an Iranian health official said in reports Sunday, with another sounding the alarm over high dose of carcinogens in domestically-made petrol. (Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Pilgrims view the relics of 19th century Italian Catholic priest Saint John Bosco in Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral on January 7, 2013 in Liverpool, England. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
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- Afghan internal refugee children work at a traditional brick factory on the outskirts of Herat on January 7, 2013. In 2012 alone, spreading conflict in Afghanistan has forced more than 166,000 Afghans to flee their homes, bringing the total number of people internally displaced by conflict to at least 460,000 since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001 with conditions for the displaced falling well below international standards, according to a 2012 study by the Norwegian Refugee council. (Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Indian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) inspector Ashok Joshi holds injured Barn Owls ,which was entangled in kite flying string in Amritsar on January 7, 2013. The Barn owls entangled in the kite string were rescued by SPCA members. (Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A Giant Grasshopper (Trachyaretaon carmelae) and biologist Volker Gruen face off as he is taking stock at the zoo in Duisburg, Germany, on January 7, 2013. (Horst Ossinger/AFP/Getty Images)
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- One man holds a ladder for another as he climbs to the second floor of a home that was heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy, in Ortley Beach, New Jersey January 7, 2013. Continuous efforts are underway to rebuild parts of the town destroyed in late October 2012 by the superstorm. (Tom Mihalek/Reuters)
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- Indian visitors watch a heart-shaped kite fly during the International Kite festival on the lawns of Priyadarshani park in Mumbai on January 7, 2013. Kite enthusiasts from different countries are participating in the day-long festival. (Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Plastic figurines depicting a female same-sex married couple are displayed during a wedding show in Strasbourg January 6, 2013. Picture taken January 6, 2013. (Jean-Marc Loos/Reuters)
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- People walk past a giant trompe-l’oeil by artist Pierre Delavie set up on the facade of the Palais de la Bourse building in Marseille, southern France, on January 7, 2013, as part of “Marseille-Provence European Capital of Culture” in 2013. (Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A model and a dog present a creation from the MAN Autumn/Winter 2013 collection during “London Collections: Men” in London January 7, 2013. “London Collections: Men” is a three-day showcase of men’s fashion scheduled a month before London Fashion week. (Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters)
Obama nominates Hagel as defense secretary, Brennan for CIA
Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton
Reuters | 2:26 p.m. EST, January 7, 2013
WASHINGTON (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 a Senate confirmation battle on two fronts and establishing a tough tone to start his second term.
Mindful of the concerns about both Hagel and Brennan on Capitol Hill, Obama spoke at length about each in a White House ceremony, then turned over the microphone to outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and acting CIA Director Mike Morell to provide testimonials about their chosen replacements.
Obama urged the Senate to move quickly in confirming Hagel, a military veteran who served in Vietnam, and Brennan, who spent 25 years at the CIA.
“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.
If confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, Hagel and Brennan would fill out a national security team that Obama is building for his second term in office. He has already nominated Democratic Senator John Kerry as his secretary of state to replace the well-regarded Hillary Clinton.
Hagel clearly faces the toughest fight.
While senators are normally inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to someone from their ranks, this was not the case with Hagel, a maverick former senator from Nebraska.
As Hagel’s name was floated for the post in recent weeks, many Republicans and some Democrats reacted with alarm, expressing deep concerns about past statements the moderate Republican has made. He has offered controversial views on key U.S. ally Israel, once complaining about the power of “the Jewish lobby” in Washington and urging direct talks with Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
Past remarks seen as disparaging to gays have drawn the ire of gay rights groups. A group called the Log Cabin Republicans published a full-page ad in The Washington Post that attacked “Chuck Hagel’s record on gay rights.”
Obama could also face opposition from human rights groups over his choice of Brennan, a CIA veteran who withdrew from consideration for the spy agency’s top job in 2008 after questions were raised about his views on “enhanced interrogation techniques” – which are widely considered to be torture – that were used on terrorism suspects during the Bush administration.
Brennan would succeed retired General David Petraeus, who resigned in November after he was brought down by a sex scandal that involved an extramarital affair with his biographer.
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Roberta Rampton and Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Eric Beech)
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