NAME — Charles Timothy "Chuck" Hagel.

AGE-BIRTH DATE — 66; Oct. 4, 1946.

EDUCATION — Graduate, Brown Institute for Radio and Television, Minneapolis, 1966; bachelor's degree, history, University of Nebraska, Omaha, 1971.

EXPERIENCE — Chairman of the Atlantic Council and the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration Advisory Committee; co-chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and member of the Defense Policy Board. U.S. senator, 1997-2009; president, McCarthy & Co., an investment banking firm based in Omaha, Neb., 1992-1996; president and chief executive officer of the Private Sector Council, a nonprofit business organization in Washington, D.C., 1990-1992; co-founder, director and executive vice president of Vanguard Cellular Systems Inc. and chairman of Communications Corporation International LTD, 1985-1987; co-founder, director and president of Collins, Hagel & Clarke Inc., an international consulting, marketing and investment company involved in cellular telecommunications, 1982-1985; deputy administrator, U.S. Veterans Administration, 1981-1982; manager of government affairs, Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 1977-1980; assistant to Rep. John Y. McCollister, R-Neb., 1971-1977; newscaster and talk-show host in Nebraska, 1969-1971; Army, including service in Vietnam, 1967-1968.

FAMILY — Wife, Lilibet; two children.

QUOTE — "We are each a product of our experiences, and my time in combat very much shaped my opinions about war. I'm not a pacifist; I believe in using force, but only after following a very careful decision-making process." — Hagel in an October interview with Vietnam Magazine.