Obama expected to nominate Ashton Carter to lead Pentagon: sources

Obama expected to nominate Ashton Carter to lead Pentagon: sources
Tue Dec 2, 2014

Former Pentagon official Ashton Carter emerged on Tuesday as the expected nominee to replace Chuck Hagel as U.S. defense secretary, sources familiar with the situation said. Carter, a former deputy secretary at the Department of Defense, would have the task of breaking into the tight-knit White House inner circle that President Barack Obama has leaned on to run national security policy. A variety of sources inside and outside the administration said Carter was the front-runner and was expected to be the nominee. One person familiar with the situation said his nomination was "almost certain." An announcement was expected in the coming days, an administration source said. The White House and the Pentagon had no comment.

Carter, 60, served for four years in senior Pentagon jobs and was the No. 2 official at the Pentagon from October 2011 to December 2013, when he stepped down. Previously, he was the Pentagon's chief arms buyer, giving him deep knowledge of defense procurement and weapons policy and control over billions of dollars in spending. He also served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy under President Bill Clinton. Carter has bachelor's degrees in physics and medieval history from Yale, a doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes scholar, according to the Pentagon website.

Reuters

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Simpleχity;1064046414 said:

A relative unknown beyond the Pentagon and arms industry.

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Therefore, if North Korea persists in its launch preparations, the United States should immediately make clear its intention to strike and destroy the North Korean Taepodong missile before it can be launched. This could be accomplished, for example, by a cruise missile launched from a submarine carrying a high-explosive warhead. ...

Diplomacy has failed, and we cannot sit by and let this deadly threat mature. A successful Taepodong launch, unopposed by the United States, its intended victim, would only embolden North Korea even further. The result would be more nuclear warheads atop more and more missiles.

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