Alliances and international organizations should be understood as opportunities for leadership and a means to expand our influence, not as constraints on our power.

Hagel is critical of George W. He is chairman of the Atlantic Council a foreign policy think tank; co-chairman of President Obama's Intelligence Advisory Board; a member of the Defense Department's Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee and the Energy Departments Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future; a member of The Washington Center's board of directors; and a member of the Public Broadcasting Service's board of directors. Six years later in 2002 Hagel overwhelmingly won re-election with over 83% of the vote the largest margin of victory in any statewide race in Nebraska history (see below or link to: United States Senate election in Nebraska 2002).

Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University chairman of the Atlantic Council and co-chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. He was reelected in 2002 and retired in 2008. He co-founded Vanguard Cellular the primary source of his personal wealth and served as president of the McCarthy Group an investment banking firm and CEO of American Information Systems Inc.