WASHINGTON — President Obama’s nominee for secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, received a resounding vote of support on Sunday from a fellow Republican moderate, Colin Powell, who said the former senator from Nebraska was ‘‘superbly qualified’’ to lead the Pentagon.

‘‘I think he will make a very, very spirited defense of his position — and I think he’ll be confirmed,’’ Powell, a former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.’’