National defense
Ashton Carter to
be nominated as next defense secretary
Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter is expected to be nominated by President Obama for the position of secretary of defense. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
President Obama will nominate Ashton B.
Carter, a physicist with long experience in national security circles and at
the Pentagon, as his new secretary of defense, according to a person familiar
with the decision.
If confirmed by the Senate, Carter would
succeed Chuck Hagel, the former Nebraska senator who is being pushed aside by
the White House after less than two years in the job. Hagel, a Republican, fell
out of favor with Obama’s inner circle as the U.S. military became embroiled in
a new war in the Middle East, a challenge that is expected to preoccupy the
Obama administration for its remaining two years in office.
Carter, 60, is little known outside
Washington but is renowned for his intellect. A Rhodes scholar, he earned a
doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford University and holds degrees in
physics and medieval history from Yale. A longtime faculty member at Harvard,
he began lecturing at Stanford this fall…
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