The truth might lie somewhere near here ...
Mr. Hagel, they said, in many ways was exactly the kind of defense secretary whom the president, after battling the military during his first term, wanted.
"Someone who just says 'Yes, Mr President' ... until he stopped doing it"?
As the US turns gently from a democracy to a totalitarian state, where the President calls ALL the shots and defies Congress and [marginally] the Constitution, I could imagine anyone wanting to bail out [or be sacked for not bending the knee to POTUS].