CNN is reporting that Ashton Carter, who formerly served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 2011 until just last December and Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics prior to that, will in all likelihood be named to replace Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense:
Washington (CNN) — Ashton Carter, the former second-in-command at the Pentagon, appears to be the top choice to replace outgoing Secretary Chuck Hagel.
Barring any last minute complications, Ash Carter will be President Barack Obama’s choice as the new Secretary of Defense, several U.S. administration officials told CNN.
An administration official had said that Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, a former General Counsel at the Pentagon, was also still on the list of possibilities, but on Tuesday morning, sources said Johnson was no longer being considered. The prospect of an additional confirmation hearing for Johnson’s replacement if he were to move to the Pentagon as the Senate switches to Republican control would have been problematic for the White House.
Hagel announced his resignation last week, but has said he will stay on until his successor is confirmed by the Senate.
Carter, who served as Deputy Defense Secretary under both Leon Panetta and Hagel, would bring a wide range of experience to a department confronting multiple crises in the Middle East and preparing to enter a new phase in Afghanistan as the NATO combat mission ends.
Carter’s ability to hit the ground running from his past experience at the Pentagon, in addition to the respect many senior military leaders have for him are seen as major benefits to winning confirmation should Obama nominate him.
“His career has sort of prepared him perfectly for this kind of a moment,” says Michael O’Hanlon, a defense industry analyst at the Brookings Institution.
In addition to a broad understanding of the Pentagon bureaucracy, Carter is seen as a master of managing large budgets, a premium in the present era of continued belt tightening on Capitol Hill, as well as an expert on weapons acquisitions.
Hagel announced his resignation last week, but has said he will stay on until his successor is confirmed by the Senate.
Carter, who served as Deputy Defense Secretary under both Leon Panetta and Hagel, would bring a wide range of experience to a department confronting multiple crises in the Middle East and preparing to enter a new phase in Afghanistan as the NATO combat mission ends.
Carter’s ability to hit the ground running from his past experience at the Pentagon, in addition to the respect many senior military leaders have for him are seen as major benefits to winning confirmation should Obama nominate him.
“His career has sort of prepared him perfectly for this kind of a moment,” says Michael O’Hanlon, a defense industry analyst at the Brookings Institution.
In addition to a broad understanding of the Pentagon bureaucracy, Carter is seen as a master of managing large budgets, a premium in the present era of continued belt tightening on Capitol Hill, as well as an expert on weapons acquisitions.
Carter’s name had come up, albeit briefly, when it came time to replace Leon Panetta at the end of the President’s second term but the President, of course, ultimately went with former Senator Hagel. This time, Carter will be asked to step into a Pentagon role that has changed significantly from what it would have been had he been named to the job two years ago, Instead of a position that involved winding down the war in Afghanistan and dealing with an era of budget cuts, Carter would now be dealing with a war against ISIS that seems to be ramping up at every opportunity and a War in Afghanistan that will still involve the use of American troops in combat roles after the end of 2014, as well as the prospect of finding a way to counter the moves that Russia has made to ramp up tensions with the West over the past year. As a political matter, though, Carter seems like a generally smart appointment since he will have been through two rounds of confirmation hearings already since the start of the Obama Administration so that should help to streamline things when the 114th Congress starts.
