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In the first casualty of November’s midterm election in which the Democrats lost control of the Senate to Republicans, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has submitted his resignation.

Hagel was selected by the president in January 2013, to lead the Defense Department and was confirmed in a very acrimonious hearing with Republican Senators wanting more detailed answers on his policy views as it related to the war in Iraq and if he believed the surge was successful in Iraq.

During Hagel’s confirmation hearing he often gave confusing and conflicting statements especially as it relates to U.S. Iran policy, but was widely selected because as a Republican Senator he was openly critical of the Bush administration’s foreign policy.

Hagel voted for the war in Iraq, but had strong reservations and become openly critical of the Bush administration’s handling of the war in Iraq, and subsequently voted against the surge of U.S. troops into Iraq which eventually stabilized the country.

Hagel was the only Republican on the Obama administration’s national security team, but never jelled with the White House insiders, especially as it related to U.S. military strategy in fighting ISIS.

There is conflicting reports by White House insiders as to whether Hagel resigned or was fired.

Senator John McCain had a strong reaction to the Hagel resignation, “They’re going to say, ‘Well, it was time for a change,’ and all that. But I can tell you, he was in my office last week very frustrated,” the Republican senator said during a radio interview with Arizona’s KYFI, adding that he “just talked to

[Hagel] on the phone.”

“Already the White House people are leaking, ‘Well, he wasn’t up to the job.’ Believe me, he was up to the job,” McCain said. “It was the job that he was given where he really was never really brought in to that real tight circle inside the White House that makes all the decisions.”

McCain believes Hagel had been frustrated at White House political insiders who had the president’s ear, as this was same sentiment echoed by former Defense Secretaries Gates and Panetta.

The Chairman of the House Armed Forces Committee Rep. Buck McKeon stated, “I was surprised because I mentioned to him before, I know he’s in a tough position, I know he’s never said a negative thing to me about the president or the administration, but we’ve heard that there were problems there.”

Last month Secretary Hagel had sent a highly detailed memo to National Security Advisor Susan Rice, last month highly critical of the administration strategy as it relates to Syria.

Since then Hagel had been openly making contradictory statements regarding how the U.S. and the administration should respond to ISIS and other foreign policy challenges facing this country.

With a chaotic U.S. foreign policy, the loss of the Senate during the midterm elections and Hagel at odds with the administration over his Middle East strategy, the secretary was the logical choice to leave.

The question is who will replace Hagel, and will the president change his foreign policy strategy; only the president knows.