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WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Obama plans to name a maverick Republican, former Sen. Chuck Hagel, to co-chair a powerful board that will oversee the work of the intelligence community at a time when CIA officials are facing investigations into whether the agency's enhanced interrogation program violated the law during the Bush administration.

Two senior administration officials told CNN that Hagel and former Sen. David Boren (D), will be unveiled as co-chairs of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board Wednesday afternoon at a White House event. CIA Director Leon Panetta and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair will also attend the event.

The prestigious post has been previously held by foreign policy luminaries like Brent Scowcroft, who ran the board during the George W. Bush administration, when it was known as the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
Hagel, who served as an informal foreign policy adviser to Obama during the presidential campaign, was rumored to be a possible Secretary of Defense or Ambassador but ended up running a Washington think tank, the Atlantic Council, instead.

Secretary of Defense Gates met with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team Thursday.

(CNN) - Still no word on whether Defense Secretary Robert Gates is being asked to stay on the job by the president-elect or whether he would stay if asked. But he makes CNN’s Short List of possible contenders for the cabinet position. Following Lincoln’s model, Obama is open to a bipartisan cabinet, and Gates isn’t the only Republican that makes our list:

ROBERT GATES: He had his first substantive meeting with members of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team Thursday to discuss key issues the new administration will face as it comes into office.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL: The Republican did not seek re-election to the U.S. Senate in the recent election. Over the course of the Iraq war, Hagel has emerged as a critic of the Bush administration.

SEN. JACK REED: The Rhode Island Democrat serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and was mentioned as a possible running mate for Obama.

Click here for additional CNN short lists for Obama’s potential cabinet.

Hagel had sharp words for Rush Limbaugh Tuesday.

(CNN) - As his Senate career nears its end, Republican Chuck Hagel isn't holding back when it comes to criticizing members of his own party - including conservative talk radio hosts.

"We are educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh," Hagel said Tuesday during a speech in Washington, according to the Huffington Post.

"You know, I wish Rush Limbaugh and others like that would run for office," a sarcastic Hagel continued. "They have so much to contribute and so much leadership and they have an answer for everything. And they would be elected overwhelmingly. [The truth is] they try to rip everyone down and make fools of everybody but they don't have any answers."

Hagel has increasingly become critical of his party in the aftermath of the Iraq War and notably held back endorsing his longtime friend John McCain during the presidential campaign. He's reportedly under consideration for a cabinet post in the Obama administration.

Speaking at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Hagel also faulted Washington lawmakers for "raw, partisan, political paralysis."

"The American people don't like what is going on... they want us to start doing what leaders are expected to do, address the problems, find some consensus to governing. Get along. There will be disagreements, sure... but in the end we can't hold ourselves captives to this raw, partisan, political paralysis."

The Obama announced that Sen. Hagel's wife, Lilibet, will join Michelle Obama at the final presidential debate. The two men are pictured in this file photo during Obama's summer Mid East trip.

(CNN) – The Obama campaign announced that Lilibet Hagel, the wife of Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, will accompany Michelle Obama at Wednesday night’s final presidential debate.

“I am honored to join Michelle Obama at the debate tomorrow night and to strongly support Senator Obama as our country’s next president,” Lilibet Hagel said in a statement released by the Obama campaign.

“Elections have consequences, and this election may be the most important of my lifetime. We have a chance to throw out the disastrous policies of the last eight years and elect a leader who is smart, honest, steady and wise. I am convinced Barack Obama is the right leader to get us to a very bright future,” Mrs. Hagel added.

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Sen. Chuch Hagel said Palin 'doesnt have any foreign policy credentials.'.'

(CNN) – Sen. Chuck Hagel has become one of the most prominent Republicans to openly question VP nominee Sarah Palin’s qualifications on Thursday.

"She doesn't have any foreign policy credentials," Hagel said in an interview with the Omaha World Herald. "You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything."

On her first overseas trip last year, Palin traveled to Kuwait and Germany to visit Alaskan National Guard troops.

In defending her own foreign policy experience, Palin has said that Alaska’s proximity to Russia gives her international expertise. Hagel, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called that notion “insulting to the American people.”

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Hagel accompanied Obama on a recent trip to Iraq.

(CNN) - Former Republican Rep. Jim Leach endorsed Barack Obama's White House bid Tuesday, and said he hopes the Illinois senator considers a former GOP ally of rival John McCain as his running mate.

Speaking on a conference call with reporters to announce a new effort among Republicans in support of Obama's candidacy, Leach said he thought Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel should join the Democratic ticket.

"There are a number of impressive potential vice presidential candidates and this is a singular decision for one person, and that is Barack Obama," Leach said. "But personally I'd be hopeful in the list of serious candidates to be considered would be Chuck Hagel, whether it be for the veep position or a serious position in an Obama administration."

Listen: Republicans announce support of Obama

Hagel, who has butted heads with his party over the war in Iraq and is not seeking a third Senate term, has said he would consider a VP offer from Obama. But it remains unclear just how much of a consideration Hagel is.

iReport.com: Share your picks for VP

While the Vietnam War veteran would instantly add gravitas and bipartisanship to the ticket, his longstanding opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage would not sit well with the Democratic base.

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McCain said Hagel has made an 'informed decision' about Iraq.

OMAHA, Nebraska (CNN) – John McCain said he's pleased Chuck Hagel is accompanying Barack Obama to the Middle East because the Nebraska senator - although "wrong" on Iraq - has military experience and has made "an informed decision" about the war.

McCain was peppered with questions about Hagel while campaigning in Nebraska Wednesday evening.

Speaking to reporters after meeting workers a trucking company, McCain again called it "remarkable" that Obama would give a major policy speech on Iraq and Afghanistan without first traveling to those countries or consulting with Gen. David Petraeus.

The presumptive nominee said he is "pleased" that Obama will be accompanied by Hagel, "who has military experience, who has knowledge of these issues."

"Senator Hagel is wrong," McCain said. But, he added: "Senator Hagel has visited Iraq. Senator Hagel has made an informed decision. Senator Hagel, although I disagree with some of his conclusions, the fact is that Senator Obama has never examined the issue carefully, at least from the standpoint of sitting down and discussing the situation with the commanding officer on the ground."

McCain also responded to speculation that Hagel could be tapped as Obama's running mate.

"Look," he said, "I don't know anything about that, except to say Chuck Hagel is a distinguished veteran and a very dear and close friend of mine, who I cherish his friendship for many, many years."

(CNN) - Senator Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, said on Sunday that he isn’t ready to endorse his good friend and Republican presidential nominee John McCain, citing major disagreements over the Iraq war.

“I’ve obviously got some differences with John on the Iraq war, that’s no secret,” Hagel told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" Sunday. “Certainly doesn’t put me in Obama or Clinton’s camp, but John and I have some pretty fundamental disagreements on the future of foreign policy.”

Hagel, who has been the one of Republican party’s most outspoken critic of the Iraq war, said he’s not sure what McCain meant when the Arizona senator said on the campaign trail that the United States would stay in Iraq for 100 years if necessary.

“I think we've got to look at the reality that we have before us, and we're in a mess right now… The fact is, all of our senior members of this Cabinet have said that we're not going to sign long-term commitments to defend Iraq,” said Hagel.

The senator from Nebraska had briefly contemplated his own White House run last year, but said recently he is now planning to leave politics. "I don't intend to be in the government next year. I don't anticipate it, and I don't look forward to it," said Hagel.

–CNN's Peter Lanier

Sen. Hagel did not mince words with his assessment of the Bush administration Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Chuck Hagel, a leading Republican lawmaker who has come out against the Iraq war, had some harsh words for the Bush White House Wednesday, calling it "one of the most arrogant" administrations he's ever seen.

"I would rate this one the lowest in capacity, in capability, in policy, in consensus - almost every area, I would give it the lowest grade," Hagel said during an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Hagel supported the 2002 congressional resolution that authorized the invasion of Iraq the following year, but earlier this year he called Bush's plan to send thousands of additional U.S. troops to Iraq "the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam."

The two-term Nebraska senator flirted with a presidential bid last spring, but ultimately announced in September he has no plans to seek the White House and intends to leave the Senate when his term ends in 2009.

Speaking Wednesday, Hagel said the administration "squandered" opportunities following the attacks on 9/11.

"I think of this administration, what they could have done after 9/11, what was within their grasp," he said. "Every poll in the world showed 90 percent of the world for us. Iran had some of the first spontaneous demonstrations on the streets of Tehran supporting America."

"There's where they have failed the country," Hagel continued. "They've squandered the time and the opportunity that they had, and the next president is going to take four years to not only dig out from under that."

Despite Hagel’s insistence he has no plans to run for president, speculation persists that he and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg may pair up for a third-party Independent bid. The two even reportedly had dinner Wednesday night.

"Bloomberg's got the money - I think it'd be Bloomberg-Hagel," the senator joked when asked about the speculation.

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Sen. Chuck Hagel

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, lambasted President Bush's foreign policy on Iran and the Middle East in a speech sponsored by a Washington think-tank Thursday.

"I do not see how the collective actions that we are now taking will produce the results that we seek on Iran's nuclear program, in Iraq, on the Israel-Palestine issue, or on any issue," he said.

He added that he believes the United States should engage countries like Iran immediately, much like has been attempted with North Korea, because "each day becomes more and more dangerous."

"Now is the time for the United States to actively pursue an offer of direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks with Iran. We cannot afford to refuse to consider this strategic choice any longer. We should make clear that everything is on the table, our issues and Iran's issues," he said.

Before the audience of academics and reporters gathered by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Hagel also accused the administration of using strong-arm tactics as diplomacy.

"Loose talk of World War III, intimidation, threats, bellicose speeches only heighten the dangers we face in the world. Without offering solutions and building international alliances we only strengthen the hand of those who prey upon and play to a confused, frightened and disorganized world."

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Watch Sen. Chuck Hagel give fellow Sen. Joe Biden a big surprise.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were seeing double on Wednesday morning.

To celebrate Halloween, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, dressed up as his colleague and friend Sen. Joe Biden, D-Delaware - decked out in a Biden mask and a "Biden for President" t-shirt. As he approached Biden's seat, he raised his arms and said, "Happy Halloween, Biden for President."

"I'll tell you what, Hagel for Vice President," Biden responded with a smile.

Hagel, who has a tradition of wearing costumes to work on Halloween, has previously dressed up as Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, according to his Senate office.

– CNN Associate Producer Lauren Kornreich

Hagel said he has no plans to run on a ticket with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

WASHINGTON (CNN)–Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, all but put to rest the rampant speculation that he has been planning to run on a third party presidential ticket with New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Chatter for their potential run started months ago when the two political mavericks had dinner together in Washington.

Though neither politician has ruled out running for higher office, Sen. Hagel said on CNN’s Late Edition this morning that there is no plan in place to run together. “I have never, along with Mayor Bloomberg, as far as I know, come to any conclusions or worked our way towards [running together] or applied any focus on that,” Sen. Hagel said. “I don't really see that happening.”

Sen. Hagel announced last week he would not run for reelection in the Senate when his term expires in 2008.

-CNN Late Edition Producer Ted Metzger

Watch Sen. Hagel announce his decision to retire.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Chuck Hagel’s decision Monday not to make a run for the White House means the Republican field will stay at nine candidates for now.

“I’m here with my family to announce I will not seek re-election,” the Republican two-term Senator from Nebraska said at a news conference in Omaha, adding “nor will I be a candidate for any office in 2008.”

Hagel, who is one of his party’s most vocal critics of the Bush Administration’s handling of the Iraq War, had flirted earlier this year with the possibility of making a bid for the presidency.

But Hagel said his commitments as a senator was one reason he decided not to run for the White House.

Full story

– CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser

Hagel announced Monday his plans to retire from the Senate.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, announced Monday he will not run for president and will not seek a third term in the U.S. Senate.

“I’m here with my family to announce I will not seek re-election,” Hagel said at a news conference in Omaha. “Nor will I be a candidate for any office in 2008.”

Hagel has been a vocal critic of the Iraq war. He joins Sen. John Warner as the second Republican in recent weeks to announce he would retire when his term ends in Jan. 2009. Earlier this year, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colorado, said he would not run for re-election.

Hagel wouldn’t close the door to going back into public service, but offered no hints as to what position he would be interested in filling.

“I hope to have another opportunity in some capacity to serve my country,” he said. “Somewhere down the road.”

– CNN Political Ticker Producer Xuan Thai

Hagel will announce his future political plans Monday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – After months of being guarded about his political future, Sen. Chuck Hagel will announce Monday whether he will retire from the Senate or seek a third term. The Nebraska senator has also refused to rule out a run for the Republican presidential nomination.

This will all be put to rest at 11 a.m. ET when Hagel discloses his decision at a news conference held at the Omaha Press Club.

Hagel, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, was first elected in 1996.

The Rothenberg Political Report describes Hagel as having a “Clear Advantage” if he chooses to seek re-election. But if Hagel decides to run, he will be opposed in the primary by Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning.

The state attorney general formally announced in June that he would challenge Hagel for the GOP Senate nomination. Meanwhile, Democrats are actively recruiting former Sen. Bob Kerrey to run for the seat. Kerrey retired in 2000 and is currently the president of The New School in New York City.

– CNN Political Editor Mark Preston