Defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel sought to assure skeptical Senate Republicans during his confirmation hearing yesterday that he opposes pending across-the-board cuts to the Pentagon budget that may start in March.

Still, while he decried the potential reductions of $500 billion in decade-long defense spending, some Republicans and observers argued Hagel did not convince them he would vigorously fight against sequestration, as outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has.

“It was not as strong as it should have been,” Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Ranking Member James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told reporters about Hagel’s commentary on sequestration early in the hearing. Compared to Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey’s rhetoric about the dangers of the pending cuts, Inhofe argued, Hagel’s comments were “very mild and very bland.”

SASC Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), though, told reporters he is convinced Hagel agrees with him and military leaders that sequestration “would have a very bad effect on the Defense Department and our services.” The cuts could tap $45 billion from the defense budget this fiscal year alone if Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on an alternate deficit-cutting plan before March 1.

The SASC hearing ran all day, as Hagel fielded at-times-hostile questions–mainly from Republicans–about his past statements on matters including Israel, Iran, the Iraq War, and nuclear weapons. The former Republican senator expressed the views of President Barack Obama’s administration on many issues, including sequestration. Despite significant Republican opposition to his confirmation, Hagel is expected to ultimately win Senate confirmation as defense secretary.

Levin kicked off the hearing by asking Hagel about those defense cuts. Sequestration is largely unpopular in Congress and opposed by the White House, yet multiple lawmakers are predicting it will start in March. Pentagon boosters have expressed concerns about Hagel’s approach to defense spending since a Financial Times reporter asked him about sequestration in August 2011 and he said the Pentagon “in many ways has been bloated” and “needs to be pared down.”

Hagel told the SASC yesterday he has “made it clear” that he shares “Leon Panetta’s and our service chiefs’ serious concerns about the impact sequestration would have on our armed forces.”

“As someone who has run businesses,” he said in his opening statement at the confirmation hearing, “I know that the uncertainty and turbulence of the current budget climate makes it much more difficult to manage the Pentagon’s resources and our national security.”

He told Levin that it is “not an exaggeration” that if Pentagon managers are not given the flexibility, opportunity, and tools to manage as they need to for the future, “that’s a disaster.” He ticked off the consequences of sequestration–including civilian employee furloughs and cuts in training and operations, which would compromise readiness–that the Pentagon has warned of.

Under subsequent questioning from Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) yesterday, Hagel noted that the Pentagon is preparing for sequestration and will “be ready to deal with it” if it kicks in.

“This is going to be very difficult,” he said. “But I think the American people do need to be reassured, as Secretary Panetta and the (military) chiefs have, that the security of this country is not going to be in jeopardy.” He then added: “But it’s going to be difficult, and it’s going to affect longterm kinds of planning….Make no mistake, if this happens this is going to be a severe problem.”

Inhofe suggested the former Nebraska senator has changed his views on multiple controversial matters for political reasons, arguing that “is deeply troubling and sends a concerning message to our allies and our adversaries alike.”

Hagel said he regretted some of his previous statements–including much-scrutinized ones on Israel and Iran–and defended others.

“I am on the record on many issues,” the nominee said. “But no one individual vote, not one individual quote, no one individual statement defines me, my beliefs, or my record. My overall worldview has never changed: that America has and must maintain the strongest military in the world, that we must lead the international community to confront threats and challenges together…and that we must use all tools of American power to protect our citizens and our interests.”

Cyber attacks, he said, represent “as big a threat to the security of this country as any one specific threat.” He said cybersecurity is an area he would make a “high priority.”

He further said the Pentagon must continue working to counter terrorist organizations that are trying to expand, which he said requires continued investment in special-operations forces and new intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance technologies.

He touted current Obama administration policies, including the military shift to the Asia-Pacific region and the drawdown of troops out of Afghanistan. He sought to assure Republicans that, despite past comments, he will take a tough stance on Iran as it seeks to build a nuclear weapon and also wants to maintain “a modern, strong, safe, ready, and effective nuclear arsenal.” 

The SASC could vote on Hagel’s confirmation as soon as next Thursday, if the committee receives information it requested from the nominee by next Monday, Levin told reporters. The SASC plans to hold a hearing next week on the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, and one the follow week on sequestration. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) previously had threatened to hold up Hagel’s nomination if Panetta did not testify about Benghazi.