Halftime

By Dan Dupont / January 31, 2013 at 5:24 PM

Summing up the first round of questions: Former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) has been hit hard on past comments about Israel and nuclear disarmament, as expected. He's been grilled by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about Hagel's opinions on the Iraq surge, with McCain declaring that his former Senate colleague was refusing to answer a question about whether Hagel was right on that surge. And he's faced a couple of questions on sequestration, with limited discussions of cyber threats, auditability and a few other matters thrown in. Almost no discussion so far of Pentagon procurement issues or weapon systems.

The committee plans to be back soon, with another break for voting due at around 2:15. A second day of questioning remains a possibility.

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