When President Obama addresses the nation this evening about U.S. involvement in Libya, he'll have an unlikely Republican in his corner.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a Marine captain who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, penned an op-ed and gave an interview defending Obama's decision to have the United States take part in airstrikes over Libya.

"I agree with the president. I agree with what he's done so far in his use of force. I agree with his timing. I agree on the fact that he went in with a coalition," Hunter told The Hill in an interview published this morning.

In an op-ed published this weekend in The San Diego Union-Tribune, the second-term GOP lawmaker wrote, "President Barack Obama made a decision that is consistent with his role as commander in chief. ... Part of the criticism against the administration is that Congress was never properly notified nor was the Libya operation put to a vote."

Hunter continued: "Such a critique is seemingly based more on feelings of frustration because of the administration's previous dealings with Congress and the public than whether it is an unlawful or perhaps even intentional oversight."

Hunter was elected in 2008 to succeed his father and namesake, a former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. That year, the elder Hunter made an unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination.

The Obama administration has been criticized by lawmakers in both political parties over the U.S. role in enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya, for not seeking congressional approval for such a military action to not having a defined objective. The outcry has come from the GOP -- from such noted foreign policy experts as Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., a friend and mentor to Obama -- and from the president's own Democratic Party -- from lawmakers such as centrist Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

Obama's speech tonight is at 7:30 p.m. ET. Our colleague David Jackson and the White House team will have more in The Oval.