chuck hagel is joining us. he was the defense secretary during the obama administration from 2013 to 2015. he served in vietnam, first vietnam veteran to serve as secretary of defense, former u.s. senator, from nebraska, republican senator from nebraska, i should point out as well. mr. secretary, thank you very much for joining us. >> wolf, thank you. >> your head spinning listening to all of this, what's going on right now? give me your reaction. >> well, i think a couple of things. yes, it's important that we get the facts. we will get the facts i suspect when the new congress comes back into session in january. they will open hearings on all this. we do need the facts. also, we'll got to remember, in 35 days, we're going to have a new president. a new administration. new policies. new structures. the fact is also we have common interests with russia. russia's a big country. it's an important country. every new administration that takes office comes in with new hope, new possibilities. i remember when preside

remember that we went through this one present obama nominated chuck hagel. it was a really contentious hearing. in the first initial confirmation hearing but he ended up getting nominated and getting confirmed and getting through the process because ultimately the senators respected the fact that he would choose who he thought was best for the job. i don't think doing business in russia should disqualify him what matters really is what kind of posture and position will he take and ultimately this is about the president's policy. what type of stance as he can to take with russia and china with all of the people that have been adversarial to his excess. what we finally had now is a world leader that people will respect. and quite friendly someone who frankly someone who has worked into embassies overseas i could tell you the place absolutely needs to be shaken up. >> i think what she's missing here is the air picking their battles and this is a battle they want to have. they actually are saying exxon mobil being this gigantic corporation is can have some skele

chuck hagel was on hand for the opening ceremony and?j-8x toure exhibit today. it includes a time line of history of a war. there are artifacts ask memorabilia left at the wall. that exhibit is not open to the >>> here's a story we're really happy to share with you. the owner of a diner and his customers are banding together to make the holidays a little brighter for dozens of local families. mark segraves is at the 29 diner where unless you have a reservation, you won't be able to get a table. >> reporter: it is christmas dinner all wrapped up into this special diner here. most diners across the country are open 24/7. tomorrow night and thursday night, the route 29 diner in fairfax will be closed so they can serve dinner to very special families. >> getting all prepped up and all our meats. >> reporter: the owner of the 29 diner in fairfax wanted to spread some joy this christmas season. >> i hope to see all of the holiday festive feelings that you and i are going to joy and happiness and excitement and love and caring from family. >> john wood wanted to see a

chuck hagel was an enlisted man but they had been be out of the military for some years. >> what areogistics. i know kristin gillibrand said she doesn't think he is get the waiver. others are weighing in. >> this is going to be complicated and rumblings here on capitol hill putting a provision in the interim spending bill to keep the government funded past this friday. and say why don't we lower the bar from 60 votes, that is the procedural threshold to move pieces of legislation down to 51. and putting it in a interim spending bill so they don't have to wrestle with it next year. some democrats say they are okay. and some senior democrats said they wouldn't be okay in putting that legislation in the interim spending bill. one said it was not in the bill yet but expect it to be here. we'll know whether or not it is in there. this is not the nuclear option where they lower the threeshold for considering a nomination. but some democrats wond fer it opens the door and if that is the nuclear option and if i had had a geiger county it would emitgamma rays. >> chad, thank you for clearing

very much wonder whether the senate will -- and chuck hagel is a good example.oversial as sessions but his confirmation wasn't easy. i wonder if the senate will reject one of its own in the first person donald trump put forward. >> i'm not suggesting that. >> i don't know that they would. >> i don't think they will. >> okay. >> it's controversial. >> yes. >> what about rex tillerson? you covered the state department for a long time. >> it was notable trump brought up that name himself not even being asked about tiller son this morning. that would be a pick that's out of the general circle of people with experience and exactly as chris said a few minutes ago. people who could have been named really by any establishment, two heavily conservative republican administrati. it would be different to have an active sitting ceo going into the role of top diplomat. there are other names in the running as well who have more traditional foreign policy and global experience than tiller son, but he would be an interesting pick. he's somebody trump likes. appear to be trying t

. >> reporter: bobby stein a private equity investor appointed by chuck hagel to head the defense businessrd to look for ways to streamline the pentagon's massive budget. >> we had specifics and we'd love to sit down with anybody. we tried. we tried to meet with secretary carter and he would not meet with us. >> reporter: the report found more than a million contractors filled back-office jobs to support 1.3 million active duty troops. the equivalent of 40 pentagons. half a million back office d.o.d. -- the defense department pushed back on the findings, "while well intended the repoins specific actionable recommendations appropriate to the department." the house arms service committee chairman reacted. >> we did bury it. as a matter of fact, in last year's bill passed by the house, we made specific reference to this report because we're on two tracks. one is reform so we get more value from the taxpayer dollar, and the other track is we've got to rebuild the military. >> reporter: his senate counterpart joined him in a statement saying "we have known for many years that the department's b

chuck hagel says it was a mistake by the obama administration to issue ultimatums on syria and not follow through. >> when the president of the united states says something to the world, that's a big deal, and then not fulfill the commitment that he made, your allies lose confidence and trust in your leadership and your word. your adversaries are watching this very clearly. i'll leave it to history to decide whether the president's position on this and what he ultimately decided was the right thing or not. we've also got to recognize that we can't fix it, nato's not going to fix it, it has to come from the middle east, the leaders there. >> last night the president-elect talked about how he would address the crisis. >> i will suspend immigration and refugee admissions from regions where they could not be safely processed or better. and we'll build safe zones in syria. when i look at what's going on in syria, it's so sad. it's so sad. and we've got to help people. and we have the gulf states. they have nothing but money. we don't have money. we owe $20 trillion. i will get the gulf states

former secretary o secretary ofe chuck hagel said it's the most important megs of the department of defensethink anybody thinks 5% is too much. on your question what is the signal of president trump's foreign policy, it's difficult to see if this is a change in u.s. foreign policy. all eve to go on is a couple of tweets and statements. it may continuing president obama's policy with modernization, or it may mean strengthening. there are things the u.s. can do to strengthen deterrence. >> yang: joseph cirincione, matthew kroenig, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: next, a long looked-for breakthrough in the battle against the deadly ebola virus. one experimental vaccine has been shown to be 100% effective on humans. hari sreenivasan has the story. >> reporter: the results of a two-year trial led by the world health organization were published in the journal "lancet" yesterday. they showed that of nearly 6,000 people vaccinated in guinea last year, none had contracted ebola after a ten day period. while in the group not vaccinated, 23 cases developed. the vaccine still needs re

. >> i heard yesterday from chuck hagel who was president obama's defense secretary and he said thereere other options short of deploying 50,000 or 100,000 u.s. ground troops to syria that might have prevented this humanitarian disaster but for whatever reason the president decided to stop short of that. >> and part of -- this president wanted to pivot away from the middle east, wanted more of an asia pivot and i think it's one of these quagmires and we hear the practical obama when he talks about this, this idea that as jake said there aren't necessarily any good choices in this, i do think -- you think about sir again i think at this point it will be trump's problem, right? he's going to be inaugurated next month and obviously the russian government and putin has a hand in terms of that alliance with bashar al assad so obama has done what he's done, some people criticize him and say he hasn't done enough and he blinked, right? this whole idea of setting a red line when there were -- a sense that there was chemical warfare being used there but it's trump's problem now so it will be u

up next, former defense secretary, chuck hagel, going to join us to weigh in on the trump transition.york giants running back, rashad jennings is challenging kids to read more, and he'll be here to explain, and "squawk" returns in just a moment. ♪ today, we're seeing new technologies make healthcare more personal with patient-centric, digital innovations; from self-monitoring devices that can interpret personal data and enable targeted care, to cloud platforms that invite providers to collaborate with the patients they serve. that's why over 90% of the top 25 global pharmaceutical companies are turning to cognizant. our domain experts, technologists, digital and data specialists, clinicians and scientists are transforming the way clinical research sites collaborate with pharmaceutical companies, and enhancing patient engagement with innovative platforms and solutions. our population's growing healthcare needs present growing opportunities for our clients: to advance the future of medicine with digital, and improve the quality of lives. ♪ >>> welcome back to "squawk box." president-ele

you had chuck hagel who didn't have great confirmation hearing but ultimately he was confirmed by the cannot confirm someone just because you don't like them. we also had susan rice who president obama was going to put up but ultimately didn't do that because of the libya and benghazi fiasco. what you're going see happening now through inaugural and confirmation hearing, he will be meeting with many senators behind the scenes and talking about world view of how he's going to carry out this position and everyone is talking a lot about policy towards russia. there's a lot going on in the world on policy towards china. most important is he share it is same world view of the president because that's the policy and strategy that he's going to have to implement. neil: the reason he's being hurt that russia is follow the news and fears that might have hacked into our election, we just raised with the number of guests. morgan: sure. neil: he's too close to comfort to vladimir putin and russians and there's the feeling that donald trump has held his punches referring to vladimir putin and to r

years later and in march of 2014, the russian defense minister told secretary -- defense secretary, chuck hagelrussia being in ukraine. after this election season, political outrage has become pass yea. why worry about mr. putin when it's so much easier to love him. >> my argument. >> that was tongue and cheek for the -- there's always somebody that doesn't get it and it's usually from new york. >> most of our audience probably got it. so if you take it back even beyond barack obama's administration, think about the message sent to vladimir putin, the last president, the 43rd president, allowed the invasion of georgia, and did nothing about it. the 44th president, allowed an invasion of ukraine and did nothing about it, and now we move to the 45th president. >> and he wants another reset. and it's weird, arguing against the reset with russia was one of the republican and even one of trump's talking points during the campaign. mocked hillary endlessly for the reset. and rightly so. obama should have known after the invasion of georgia in 2008 that there was no point in trying to do business with

. >> that was former secretary of defense chuck hagel yesterday. >> ironicay his nickname in congresscivil war and its impact on president obama's legacy. joining us nbc news pentagon correspondent hans nickel. >> he's something very slippery about this guy. >> everybody was talking bad about this guy at the white house, said they were out to get him. >> i don't want to say more. there were multiple conspiracies taking place in multiple wings of the white house. >> more hans. welcome to "morning joe." >> my intellect against your forward. i like these odds. >> how long did you practice that in front of a mirror? >> about 26 times. >> it's good. how was the delivery? i felt i flubbed it a little. >> welcome to "morning joe." >> thank you. >> you're my ally. >> i am an ally. >> oh, my god, really. >> killing him. >> is this your first time? >> that's awesome. >> undermine him from the start. >> maybe i'll flub it. we'll see. >> hans, tell me -- >> that's all i do is flub it. you still come back. it's amazing. >> what's the attitude over at the pentagon about general mattis coming in? is