PRESIDENT OBAMA TODAY TO NOMINATE FORMER REPUBLICAN SENATOR HAGEL AS THE NEXT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE.............

The American news media is reporting this morning that President Barack Obama will nominate former Nebraska two term U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel to be the Secretary of Defense in his second term in the White House.  Senator Hagel has come under appreciable criticism in recent weeks for views and statements he has made in the past about Israel and Iran, including by several of his former GOP Senate colleagues as well as other Republicans and some Congressional Democrats.  President Obama is said to ready for any fight to block or defeat Chuck Hagel's nomination as the next Defense Secretary.  Hagel is a decorated Vietnam War veteran, and would be the first enlisted man to be nominated, confirmed, or serve as American Secretary of Defense.  Also today, it is expected the President will announce he is nominating his National Security Adviser John Brennan, as the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, as the successor to C.I.A. Director retired General William Petraeus, who resigned the post in November.............Fr.  Troy