April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month across the nation. How about a breath mint?

Lip balm? Hand sanitizer? Sewing kit? 

In the Pentagon, Defense Department officials have launched a massive public relations campaign to show they're serious about cracking down on sexual assault in the military, while raising awareness among service members. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has recorded a message to the troops while DOD has expanded its victim-assistance programs, sought help from outside advocacy groups, and required sexual assault to receive attention higher up the chain of command.

And as with most DOD campaigns, folding tables and cardboard displays were set up in the apex between corridors 9 and 10, and promotional giveaways were handed out.

Every week there is some kind of promotional event at the apex -- whether to get your cholesterol screened, take advantage of DOD retirement advice, celebrate Black History Month, or remind you of your cybersecurity responsibilities.

This month at the apex, as well as in the Pentagon Athletic Center, in order to remind troops not to sexually assault each other, the Air Force is offering a lip balm tube with a label that reads: "SAPR Sexual Assault Prevention & Response; Air Force National Capital Region; 24/7 Hotline 310-981-7272."

The Air Force also passed out tchotchkes like a box of breath mints, which has a bold sticker on the cover that says "NO MEANS NO!" -- because nothing says leave me alone like fresh breath, apparently.

Or, military officers and civilian workers could try the 2.5-ounce hand sanitizer bottle shaped like an open palm. Printed on the bottle: "KEEP UR HANDS 2 YOURSELF," along with the telephone number for the Sexual Assault Response Coordinators 24-hour hotline.

Or, play catch around the Pentagon office using a mini foam football, always a favorite at exhibit booths. This one reminds troops "DON'T FUMBLE... GET CONSENT" and is printed with the same hotline phone numbers.

The mints come in a box wrapped in a trifold cardboard cover that asks "Are you at risk?" On one inside flap is a five-bullet explainer on "What is Sexual Assault?" On the other flap, "Minimize Your Risk" tips suggest that there's safety in numbers, that you have your key ready before you reach a car door, and that you stay sober -- or at least never leave your drink unattended. Another tip, from the breath mint package: "Match your body language to your words -- don't laugh and smile while saying, ‘No.'"

The package also explains what "consent" means and has a final pop quiz, teaching that if you have been sexually assaulted, you should not bathe or shower, presumably to preserve biological evidence.

Other trinkets included a pocket-sized flashlight; a sewing kit; and a small notepad and pen in a plastic carrying case.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, sworn in formally yesterday but in his third week as Pentagon chief, has a full plate, from cyber security to the budget to North Korea, Afghanistan, Syria and North Africa, to sexual assault issues and things that may seem more prosaic but no less politically potent - the future of the Distinguished Warfare Medal.

But he is also focused on building a team of staffers who can help him prioritize, focus, and be effective as he confronts the unrelenting number of decisions he’ll have to make as Pentagon chief.

Despite the many former Hagel staffers who supported him during the contentious confirmation process, both publicly and from the shadows, Hagel is not thought to want to bring a large entourage into the Pentagon -- former secretary Robert Gates famously walked into the building alone. Hagel has so far only brought in one senior aide, Aaron Dowd, a young Nebraskan who has been at his side for the last several years. Dowd is expected to play a significant role, and Hagel will also pull close a former aide from his Senate days, Eric Rosenbach, who is already in the building as a deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy. Tom Waldhauser, the humble Marine three-star who served as Panetta’s most recent senior military adviser and will likely stay on in that role under Hagel.

But one of the most important team players will be what is known as the special assistant, or TSA -- also known as his chief of staff. Hagel appears to be leaning toward Marcel Lettre, now in an “acting” role as special assistant.

Lettre, a former national security adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, has been in the building for about four years, managing the transition of Gates to Leon Panetta, and serving as the assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs. He then played a big role in the current transition. He’s well-regarded in and outside of the building, considered a nice guy who knows the Hill but also, increasingly, the building, and sees the big picture. “Secretary Hagel appears to be gelling well with Lettre,” a senior defense official tells Situation Report. “The final decisions haven’t been made on front office personnel, but Marcel is a quiet doer, well-liked, well-respected, and the secretary appears to have recognized that.”

If Lettre gets the nod, he’ll have big shoes to fill, following Panetta’s former chief of staff Jeremy Bash and, before that, Gates’ special assistant Robert Rangel. Both those men were also well-thought of and brought distinct qualities to the front office, say former officials familiar with the dynamic in the defense secretary’s front office.

Bash played the more conventional role of chief of staff, typically traveling with Panetta and staying close to him, effectively managing the front office and day-to-day operations of the Pentagon. Affable and accessible, Bash followed Panetta from the CIA but like others, cut his teeth on the Hill, where he had served as the chief counsel of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. That put the Pentagon’s number two -- Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, seen as competent and capable -- in what another former official described in a “chief operating officer” role, managing the building.

That was perhaps in contrast to the dynamic under Gates. Rangel, Gates’ right-hand-man, was a quiet enforcer who operated behind the scenes and rarely traveled with the secretary. Gates, who had a tight coterie of advisers, gave Rangel a larger portfolio that diminished the role of Bill Lynn, then the deputy secretary of defense. For example, Rangel had a major advisory role on budgets and policy -- all on top of his role managing Gates’ front office at the Pentagon. As a gatekeeper, Rangel was also obsessive about making sure that whatever was put in front of Gates was staged and ready for a decisive action or some kind of outcome.

“[Rangel] never traveled because his focus was on making sure the secretary’s priorities and guidance were being carried out in the Pentagon,” a former official said.

Rangel was considered fair-minded and knowledgeable and lacked a personal agenda. And perhaps most critically, he was not a screamer.

“I don’t think there are many people who have done [the job] better than Robert,” said former Pentagon policy chief Eric Edelman. “Basically there was no issue that came up that Robert didn’t know like the back of his hand.”

If Hagel gives Lettre the job permanently, he will likely define Lettre’s role much in the same way as Panetta defined Bash’s – someone with whom he will work closely and attend meetings – leaving management of the building to Carter.

Regardless, the most important thing for the special assistant is to cue up decisions for the boss, make sure he makes them, and then ensure the building follows the secretary’s will, said former officials familiar with the dynamics of the front office. He’ll have to help Hagel navigate the seemingly endless corridors of the Pentagon -- from the E-Ring into the A-Ring, and the rings in between, former staffers said. And he’ll have to act as the Great Integrator, coordinating between the services, the Joint Staff and the secretary’s office.

The special assistant must chart the course, digest a lot of information, filter it, prioritize it and then assessing whether that information -- and the people attached to it need the secretary’s attention.

“That’s where you succeed or fail, because that’s what it all comes down to,” said one of the former officials. But if Lettre says in the job, he won’t be able to do it alone. “The key for Marcel is, he’s gotta put a team up there, he can’t do it all by himself… the place is too big, the job is too hard.”

Gen. John Allen has pulled his name from consideration for the top military job in Europe, citing the health of his wife Kathy and his desire to support her and his two daughters.

The decision creates an opening the White House must now scramble to fill, since Adm. James Stavridis, the current Supreme Allied Commander and head of U.S. European Command, has been in the job since June 2009. That is nearly a year longer than most combatant commanders serve, and Stavridis is thought to be eager to retire.

Foreign Policy’s Situation Report first reported last week that Allen was considering declining the job in Europe. The formal announcement today now sets off jockeying by other services and flag and general officers to position themselves for what remains a coveted combatant command.

Last month, Allen was exonerated by an investigation that looked into potential improper e-mails between him and Tampa socialite Jill Kelley. Although he was cleared, some media reports about his resignation indicate that Allen was forced out by the White House or that he was trying to avoid a contentious confirmation hearing that could force the Pentagon to release the e-mails.

But Allen’s citing his family may well be true. Kathy Allen has for years suffered from a combination of chronic health issues that include an autoimmune disorder, according to a report posted Tuesday by the Washington Post. Compared to the job of war commander, the job in Europe is seen as an easy one. But it has a brutal schedule that keeps that commander on the road as much as 20 to 25 days each month, according to sources. That would make it difficult for Allen, who just ended a 19-month tour in Kabul, to be there for his wife. “Right now, I’ve just got to get her well,” Allen told the Post. “It’s time to take care of my family.”

Marc Chretien, Allen’s longtime civilian adviser, said that unlike most cases in Washington where public officials cite family as a convenient excuse to mask other reasons for professional decisions, it’s true in Allen’s case. “Where 100 different people can cite family reasons as the reason for their retirement, General Allen is one out of 100 who is doing it exactly for those reasons,” he said in a brief phone interview.

President Barack Obama issued a statement Tuesday saying: “John Allen is one of America’s finest military leaders, a true patriot, and a man I have come to respect greatly. I wish him and his family the very best as they begin this new chapter, and we will carry forward the extraordinary work that General Allen led in Afghanistan.” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that Allen had proven himself to be one of the country’s “most outstanding battlefield leaders, a brilliant strategist and an exemplary Marine, and I am deeply grateful for his many years of dedicated service to our country.”

In 2006, Allen was a respected Marine one-star cutting his teeth in Iraq as he and others nurtured the Awakening Movement that brought Sunni sheiks back from self-imposed exile in Jordan and other countries to drive al Qaeda out of Anbar province. Known as a southern gentleman with shrewd political skills, Allen rose quickly, all but skipping the two-star rank.

As he neared the end of a long tour in Kabul last fall, he was nominated to in the dual-hatted role as commander of European Command and Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. The nomination was seen as a capstone job that could nevertheless put him in position to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But soon after Allen was pulled into the scandal that felled David Petraeus.

FBI agents on the Petraeus case discovered e-mails between Kelley and Allen, and Panetta asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate. Initially, some 30,000 pages of correspondence were at issue, but investigators ultimately focused on several dozen e-mails -- some of which Allen’s own wife Kathy had been included on. Investigators concluded last month, however, that nothing improper had taken place between Kelley and Allen.

Names already being floated for the job in Europe include Gen. Jim Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps; Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, now commander of American Mobility Command; Gen. Phil Breedlove, the current top Air Force commander in Europe; Adm. Bruce Clingan, the current top Navy commander in Europe; Army Gen. Chuck Jacoby, who commands Northern Command; Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Sandy Winnifeld; Gen. Robert Cone, the commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command; and Adm. Bill Gortney, the commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command.

The era of massive deployments of American troops sent to fight terrorism abroad is coming to an end, President Obama declared in his fifth State of the Union address before Congress.

Roughly 34,000 of the 66,000 troops in Afghanistan will come home by this day next year, Obama said, and the war will be over by the end of next year. Obama did not indicate whether those troops would come home slowly, or be held in the war zone through the warmer fighting months later in the year.

But in their place overseas, the U.S. will continue its counterterrorism mission to track al Qaeda and other organizations the president said are spreading across North Africa, but not without greater transparency and oversight.

“Today, the organization that attacked us on 9/11 is a shadow of its former self. Different al Qaeda affiliates and extremist groups have emerged -- from the Arabian Peninsula to Africa,” Obama said.  “The threat these groups pose is evolving. But to meet this threat, we don’t need to send tens of thousands of our sons and daughters abroad, or occupy other nations. Instead, we will need to help countries like Yemen, Libya, and Somalia provide for their own security, and help allies who take the fight to terrorists, as we have in Mali. And, where necessary, through a range of capabilities, we will continue to take direct action against those terrorists who pose the gravest threat to Americans.”

“As we do, we must enlist our values in the fight. That is why my Administration has worked tirelessly to forge a durable legal and policy framework to guide our counterterrorism operations.  Throughout, we have kept Congress fully informed of our efforts. I recognize that in our democracy, no one should just take my word that we’re doing things the right way.  So, in the months ahead, I will continue to engage with Congress to ensure not only that our targeting, detention, and prosecution of terrorists remains consistent with our laws and system of checks and balances, but that our efforts are even more transparent to the American people and to the world.”

The state of the union, Obama said, is “stronger," suggesting a country in transition -- not as weak as it once was, but not yet where it needs to be.

“Tonight, thanks to the grit and determination of the American people, there is much progress to report,” Obama said at the top, beginning with mention of the global conflicts against terrorism in which the U.S. is embroiled abroad.  “After a decade of grinding war, our brave men and women in uniform are coming home.”

In Afghanistan, he said, “This spring, our forces will move into a support role, while Afghan security forces take the lead. Tonight, I can announce that over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan. This drawdown will continue. And by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over.”

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta welcomed Obama's drawdown announcement. Panetta, a senior defense official told the E-Ring, long had wanted to wait for Obama's troop decision before leaving office. "He wanted to give [Chuck] Hagel an on-ramp," the official said, of the Afghanistan war, among other issues facing the Pentagon.

In a statement, Panetta said, "I am confident that General [John] Dunford will have the combat power he needs to protect our forces, to continue building up the capabilities of Afghan National Security Forces, and to achieve the goal of this campaign ­ to deny al Qaeda a safe haven to attack our homeland."

"Our troops on the ground will continue to be in a tough fight," he continued, "and they will continue to face real challenges, but our fundamental goal is now within sight."

Less than 24 hours after North Korea exploded a nuclear device underground, Obama called out the regime, as well as Iran, in a section of the speech on nuclear weapons. Pyongyang and Tehran must live up to international demands to cease nuclear ambitions, he said, while the U.S. will engage in new talks with Russia, as has been expected, on reducing their arsenals further.

Obama also said the U.S. would stand behind the changes in the Middle East without wading too far into any of them, as democracy movements struggle to flourish.

“The process will be messy, and we cannot presume to dictate the course of change in countries like Egypt; but we can -- and will -- insist on respect for the fundamental rights of all people. We will keep the pressure on a Syrian regime that has murdered its own people, and support opposition leaders that respect the rights of every Syrian.”

Team Hagel is going nuclear.

No really, in response to a low but sustained murmur of conservative attacks on Chuck Hagel’s previous support for reducing the number of nuclear weapons, Team Hagel now has an “Atomic War Room.”

“Team Hagel is planning a full scale defense of the senator's record on nuclear issues,” said an official close to the confirmation team. “Some have wrongly suggested that he wants to unilaterally close America's nuclear arsenal. Nothing could be further from the truth. He firmly believes in a strong nuclear deterrent as long as we face nuclear threats.”

Hagel’s team has already said they were going on the attack. They defended Hagel’s nuclear record as one point of a seven-point myths vs. realties fact sheet released two weeks ago.

So why now? Are nuclear issues that big of a worry for Team Hagel? Or are they just trying to get out ahead of conservative senators, who seem to be running out of anti-Hagel ammunition? Worries of Hagel’s support for Israel and gay rights have come and gone. But nuclear issues -- fully funding nuclear labs and construction of new delivery vehicles like submarines and the next long-range bomber -- may get more play in Hagel’s confirmation hearing next Thursday. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) faced several nuclear-related questions in his own confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Either way, President Obama has made nuclear issues and disarmament a foreign policy priority. But his verve for the issue has never been picked up and matched by his first two Pentagon chiefs, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta.

With Hagel, Obama has picked a SecDef who spent the last few years advocating for disarmament.

Chuck Hagel has built up a long and detailed record of his thinking on national security. In speeches and op-eds, Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, has presented a vision of American foreign policy that calls for building alliances, even with adversaries, and for recognizing the limitations of force and the patience required of diplomacy. Here are 10 quotes from President Obama’s nominee to succeed Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta that give us a better idea of what to expect from the former senator.

1.    “There will be no victory or defeat for the United States in Iraq.”

At the height of anti-Iraq War fever in November 2006, the Bush administration was facing a decision: double-down with a massive troop “surge” or pull out before the insurgency could do any more damage. As party lines ruled the day, Hagel published an op-ed in the Washington Post that broke ranks and said out loud that the U.S. was not winning the war. Hagel opposed the coming troop surge and advocated withdrawal. “We have misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged our honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam,” he wrote. By then, Hagel’s opposition was no secret, but the article stuck in Washington’s collective mind.

When Hagel retired in 2008, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) said this in his floor tribute speech: “Senator Hagel's opposition to the war carried very special impact. He is a conservative, a member of the president's own political party, and a military veteran. In fact, he still carries shrapnel in his chest and remnants of burns to his face from his service as an infantryman in Vietnam. Senator Hagel now calls Mr. Bush's war in Iraq ‘an absolute replay of Vietnam.’”

2.    “The worst thing we can do, the most dangerous thing we can do is continue to isolate nations, is to continue to not engage nations. Great powers engage.”

The foreign policy debate over engagement with antagonistic regimes like Iran and North Korea -- and even China and Russia -- continues to rage. Hagel, in a keynote speech to the Israel Policy Forum in New York in December 2008, put himself at odds with the large chunk of Washington -- and Congress -- that prefers sanctions and military threats to diplomacy in attempts mitigate threats abroad. But Hagel’s focus on alliances will fit nicely with the Pentagon’s desire for “relationship building” and “building partner capacity” with friendly foreign armies. In warning that the military can’t fix Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran, Hagel has called for the U.S. to work the region’s countries into “some alignment of common interests.”  

3.    "I told Obama he should pick Biden as his running mate."

In 2008, Barack Obama had a wide selection of Democrats from which to pick his vice presidential running mate. Obama, a young, one-term senator with a worldly personal background but little experience in governance, had already sought out foreign policy mentoring from his elders in Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN), Hagel, and Joe Biden, a longtime senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. When Biden’s own run for the presidency fizzled, Obama kept him in close counsel and made the white-haired elder his second, with Hagel’s blessing. Since occupying the White House, Obama has kept Hagel close. Now the president has Biden at his side, Kerry at the State Department, and Hagel in the Pentagon.

4.    “There is no glory in war, only suffering.”

At the ground-breaking for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in 1982, a much younger Hagel uttered that bold phrase, reflecting the disdain of the nation at the war. Hagel and his brother, Tom, served together in Vietnam, earning Purple Hearts at a time when Americans did not support the troops like they do today. But the wounds have never healed. Hagel frequently invokes the “folly” of Vietnam and is viewed as a non-interventionist. That makes him an interesting pick to lead the military at this moment. In May 2011, once again at the wall, Hagel repeated the phrase in a speech. Keep that in mind as Hagel likely directs the end of the Afghanistan war and the beginning of the expensive post-war era for millions of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, some facing a lifetime of emotional and physical healing. “As we have painfully learned from the tragic misadventure of Vietnam, society must always separate the war from the warrior. We do not celebrate the Vietnam War. We commemorate and historically recognize it.”

5.    “I don't have to be President. I don't have to be a senator. I just have to live with myself.”

On the Senate floor in late 2008, tribute speeches poured in over Hagel’s reputation as an independent voice and respected leader on foreign policy and national security that ignored party lines. As a result, there is a record of praise for Hagel that would appear to make his confirmation far easier than has been portrayed recently. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, “In two terms in the Senate, Chuck has earned the respect of his colleagues and risen to national prominence as a clear voice on foreign policy and national security.” Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) called Hagel “one of the bravest and most fiercely independent Members of this legislative body.” Reid said that quote, which he appeared to paraphrase on the Senate floor, was Hagel’s answer to those calling for him to run for the presidency or vice presidency. Byrd said: “The Senate needs strong, independent voices like Senator Hagel -- lawmakers who are willing to put the best interests of our country and American people over partisan politics.” Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) said, “In the Senate, Chuck embraced responsibility for U.S. national security as few Senators have in recent decades.”

6.    “The United States will remain committed to defending Israel. Our relationship with Israel is a special and historic one. But it need not and cannot be at the expense of our Arab and Muslim relationships. That is an irresponsible and dangerous false choice.”

Perhaps the loudest pre-nomination concern over Hagel has been his allegedly insufficient support for Israel. But in a 2006 speech on the Senate floor, Hagel said the U.S. should walk and chew gum at the same time in the Middle East. He said that Israel has the right to defend itself, he blasted Arab attacks, and he called for an international military force to deploy along the Lebanese border. But he also said: “The United States and Israel must understand that it is not in their long-term interests to allow themselves to become isolated in the Middle East and the world. Neither can allow themselves to drift into an ‘us against the world’ global optic or zero-sum game. That would marginalize America's global leadership, our trust and influence, further isolating Israel, and it would prove disastrous for both countries, as well as the region. It is in Israel's interest, as much as ours, that the United States be seen by all states in the Middle East as fair. This is the currency of trust.” That position may not mesh with some senators’ views. But how different is it from the White House’s?

7.    “We must avoid the traps of hubris and imperial temptation that comes with great power.”

With the United States more than a year into the global war on terrorism, Hagel invoked the anti-imperial warnings of Winston Churchill in delivering the Landon Lecture at Kansas State University. It was February 2003, and the Bush administration was on the verge of invading Iraq -- an action that would marry U.S. troops to that country for eight years. Hagel set the bar high for using American military force to solve foreign policy problems. Staring down the concern over Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, Hagel said, “American purpose requires more than the application of American power,” warning that the U.S. would have to stay in Iraq for post-war rebuilding. “War, if it is necessary, should be a means, and not an end, to achieve a plan of action to encourage conflict resolution and peaceful change in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.”

8.     “We forgot all the lessons of Vietnam and the preceding history.”

In 2009, Hagel challenged President Obama and the United States to get out of Afghanistan and Iraq sooner rather than later, arguing that neither war was America’s to win. “Win what?” he asked, explaining that changing minds and the quality of life in places like the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region would require “political accommodation and reconciliation.” That term was far more controversial three years ago, when Hagel inked it in the Washington Post.  And, again, Hagel pushed for long-term, multinational coalition building across regions that work with perceived adversaries to find common interests. “Does anyone believe we will get to a responsible resolution on Iran without Russia?” Good question, still.


9.    “It's never a good easy clean choice in foreign policy.”

In a 2007 interview at the Council on Foreign Relations, Hagel basically rejected the “with us or against us” approach of the Bush administration and took a sharp jab at the talking points heard on the presidential campaign trail. Hagel was basically telling the partisans in Washington to leave national security to the grown-ups. Look for him to show his appreciation for nuance in the massive Defense Department by resisting rhetorical spit-balling from Obama’s detractors on issues like the budget, China, Iran, Russia, and even Israel.

10.    “Time is the most critical commodity you have.  If you squander the time, if you squander the moment, if you squander the opportunity, if you squander the boldness, what price do you pay on that?” 

In that same CFR forum heading into the 2008 election cycle, Hagel criticized the Bush administration for not doing more to promote international alliances, spending too much time reacting to crises and not driving a long-term strategic vision. He later challenged President Obama to start thinking about how to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently, Pentagon workers describe 2012 as a year spent in waiting -- for a budget, for troop numbers in Afghanistan, and, frankly, for a new defense secretary. If past is prologue, don’t expect a Secretary Hagel to slow roll into the job. Could he convince the president to speed up an Afghanistan war ending sooner than 2014? It wouldn’t be out of character.