![\"Mich\u00e8le](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mich\u00e8le-Flournoy-300x180.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nI know I predicted that Mich\u00e8le Flournoy would be the next Secretary of Defense, but the Washington Post<\/a> says that she took her name out of the running, because anyone with a measure of common sense doesn’t want to get their fingerprints on that train wreck;<\/p>\n Flournoy, who co-founded the Center for a New American Security and currently serves as its chief executive officer, wrote in a letter to her board of directors that the needs of her family prevented her from taking the job, according to a person who received the letter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Former airborne infantryman Senator Jack Reed<\/a> has also bowed out;<\/p>\n Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), who is close to Obama and who is frequently mentioned as a possible defense secretary, said on Monday that he was not interested in the job.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, I sat and listened while a Pentagon spokesman, Admiral John Kirby, denied that Chuck Hagel was fired. I sat and listened quietly until the admiral said that Hagel had influenced so many important changes in the DoD, he ignored my shouted questions about what the Hell he was talking about. I guess he couldn’t hear me through the TV screen.<\/p>\n