12/3/2014
WASHINGTON – U.S. President Barack Obama intends to nominate Ashton Carter to be the new defense secretary, after he served as the No. 2 man in the Pentagon up until last December, according to official sources cited anonymously by several media outlets on Tuesday.
Carter, 60, served as deputy defense secretary from October 2011 until December 2013, when he resigned for personal reasons.
Carter’s appointment to replace Chuck Hagel, who resigned on Nov. 24 after less than two years as defense secretary, probably will be announced by Obama this week, according to the sources cited by the press.
The majority of those figures whose names were beginning to be heard as possible replacements for Hagel – including Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, former Pentagon policy chief Michele Flournoy and current Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson – have said they are not interested in the job.
According to the White House, Obama believes that at this time a different kind of leadership at the Pentagon that that exercised by Hagel is needed. He informed the former Republican senator of that and Hagel’s resignation was mutually agreed to.
As Obama noted upon announcing Hagel’s departure last week, the outgoing defense chief came to the Pentagon in February 2013 at a time of “transition” with the task of managing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, a process that will be completed by yearend, and cutbacks in the government’s defense budget.
Along the way, the crisis with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine and the rise of the jihadist Islamic State put Hagel’s leadership to the test.
In addition, Hagel had significant disagreements with close advisers to Obama regarding issues such as the Syrian conflict and the process of transferring prisoners from the Guantanamo prison to other countries.
A graduate in physics and medieval history from Yale, before he became the deputy defense secretary Carter had served as the Pentagon’s weapons purchasing and technology chief for two years.
If tapped by Obama, he will be the president’s fourth defense secretary, following Robert Gates, Leon Panetta and Hagel.
source
WASHINGTON – U.S. President Barack Obama intends to nominate Ashton Carter to be the new defense secretary, after he served as the No. 2 man in the Pentagon up until last December, according to official sources cited anonymously by several media outlets on Tuesday.
Carter, 60, served as deputy defense secretary from October 2011 until December 2013, when he resigned for personal reasons.
Carter’s appointment to replace Chuck Hagel, who resigned on Nov. 24 after less than two years as defense secretary, probably will be announced by Obama this week, according to the sources cited by the press.
The majority of those figures whose names were beginning to be heard as possible replacements for Hagel – including Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, former Pentagon policy chief Michele Flournoy and current Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson – have said they are not interested in the job.
According to the White House, Obama believes that at this time a different kind of leadership at the Pentagon that that exercised by Hagel is needed. He informed the former Republican senator of that and Hagel’s resignation was mutually agreed to.
As Obama noted upon announcing Hagel’s departure last week, the outgoing defense chief came to the Pentagon in February 2013 at a time of “transition” with the task of managing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, a process that will be completed by yearend, and cutbacks in the government’s defense budget.
Along the way, the crisis with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine and the rise of the jihadist Islamic State put Hagel’s leadership to the test.
In addition, Hagel had significant disagreements with close advisers to Obama regarding issues such as the Syrian conflict and the process of transferring prisoners from the Guantanamo prison to other countries.
A graduate in physics and medieval history from Yale, before he became the deputy defense secretary Carter had served as the Pentagon’s weapons purchasing and technology chief for two years.
If tapped by Obama, he will be the president’s fourth defense secretary, following Robert Gates, Leon Panetta and Hagel.
source
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