The civilian policy makers and generals who led Obama toward a troop escalation in Afghanistan during his first year in office, a decision that left him deeply distrustful of senior military leaders, have been replaced by a handpicked leadership that includes Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The crisis in Syria is the most recent and most powerful example of how Obama, elected twice on a promise to disengage the United States from overseas conflicts, has moved the Pentagon to a back seat.
In this case, it is Secretary of State John Kerry who is leading the charge, not the far less vocal Mr. Hagel and General Dempsey.
The drum major for intervention is instead Kerry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/14/us/politics/syria-crisis-underlines-pentagons-move-to-the-back-seat.html?_r=0