Michele Flournoy Withdraws From Consideration as US Defence Secretary: Report

Washington, United States: Michele Flournoy, a former top US Defence Department official widely tipped as a possible replacement for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, has taken herself out of consideration for the job, Foreign Policy Magazine reported on Tuesday.

It said in a blog post that Flournoy, co-founder and chief executive of the Center for a New American Security, had written to the think tank's board of directors saying she would remain in her post and had asked President Barack Obama to take her out of consideration to head the Pentagon.

Flournoy, if appointed, would have been the first woman to head the Defence Department.

Hagel announced his resignation on Monday.