. >> you are not objective about this, apparently, having worked for michelle fourneau. were you surprised that she didn't get the nod? were you surprised that chuck hagel specifically did? >> i was surprised. i thought it was a fantastic opportunity for president obama to make an historic gesture and nominate the first female secretary of defense. it is one of those situations where it struck me, obviously, i am completely biased. but it struck me that the most qualified person was a woman. chuck hagel is an impressive guy who i admire in a lot of ways. i don't know why he thinks that it takes a republican to be nominated two times out of three. >> michelle fourneau, her job as under-secretary was historically high level achievement, for somebody in the defense world. when she was there as such a highly regarded person as a potential next secretary of defense, did it make a difference in the pentagon? did it make a difference in that setting to have a woman at that high level? >> right. i think it absolutely did in several different ways, number one, she was just a real

i still think that the president obviously, he could ask michelle fourneau or susan rice to become theal security adviser. both of them would be fantastic in that job. likewise, you know, he -- depending on what happens with the position of director of national intelligence, if the current occupant stays or decides to go, that is another fantastic opportunity for a woman. and there are some women in the intelligence community. so i think it could be done if he wants to make it a priority. i hope he will, but i don't expect it. >> rosa brooks, nice to see you, thank you for joining us. >> thanks, rachel. >>> up next, we have an exclusive on something going on in alaska that has rather captured our imaginations around here. hold on, that is coming up. aig?g to turn it around, and we did. woman: we're helping joplin, missouri, come back from a devastating tornado. man: and now we're helping the east coast recover from hurricane sandy. we're a leading global insurance company, based right here in america. we've repaid every dollar america lent us. everything, plus a profit of more than $22