Obama Nominates Ashton Carter For Defense Secretary

[ucrdem]

Source: HUFFPOST

12/05/2014 10:33 am EST

President Barack Obama on Friday nominated former Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Obama said Carter is regarded "as one of our nation's foremost national security leaders."

"He knows the Department of Defense inside and out," Obama said. "On Day One, he's going to hit the ground running."

Carter said he "discussed the challenges and opportunities" of the role with Obama before accepting the nomination. He said he accepted the role in part because of the respect he and his wife Stephanie have for the troops.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/05/ashton-carter-nominated_n_6275524.html

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President Barack Obama shares a laugh with Ashton Carter, his nominee for defense secretary, on Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, during the announcement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/12/05/obama-names-ashton-carter-as-his-next-pentagon-chief.html

[ucrdem]

1. UK Guardian: Who is Ashton Carter?

The former physicist and Harvard professor who has taken an interest in cybersecurity, lacks a prominent political profile, offending as few people as he inspires




Choosing Carter for the Pentagon is likely to disappoint those who want Obama to commit firmly to his new war against Isis. Carter has not been a prominent voice in the debate over what to do about the jihadist force that has overrun parts of Syria and Iraq. Its emergence challenges the statements Carter has issued in the past about the 9/11 era “coming to an end” and managing declining defense budgets, both of which echo Obama priorities the White House has struggled to implement and which the newly empowered Republican Congress rejects.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/03/ashton-carter-rumour-obama-secretary-defense

[FairWinds]

2. Does one have to be batshit crazy to be the US Secretary of Defense?

Well, maybe not entirely, but it sure seems to help.
This is the guy that, among many other things, helped to blow up
the test ban treaty.
Much more at . .
http://www.accuracy.org/release/ashton-carter-insider-spawned-nuclear-buildup/
Another sell-out appointment by Obama.
The Nobel Committee really should demand he give back the Prize.
Welcome to the Forever War.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Enjoy your well-educated chickenhawk, Obama.

[Autumn]

4. Better than that. He was an advisor to Goldman Sachs on global affairs.

A well qualified man.

[ucrdem]

5. Obama was elected to ramp down US military involvement in the Middle East.

Evidently Hagel wanted to ramp up. If Carter is on board with Obama's view he's probably a better fit, because so is the electorate, at least when it isn't being spooked by the media.

[TwilightGardener]

6. This guy doesn't have a history of "ramping down". Note the excitement

from Republicans, and corrupt numbskulls like Jane Harman, and the defense industry about him. And Donald Rumsfeld, he sent a thrilled congratulatory tweet. Whatever Hagel really thinks about what we should do in Iraq and Syria and Ukraine, I know he wouldn't waste troops' lives on an ill-thought adventure. As opposed to this dude, who thought we should bomb North Korea, with little consideration for our troops in harm's way in South Korea. That's the deep thinking that an academic and lifelong bureaucrat brings you.

[ucrdem]

7. Hagel seems to have liked him too . . .

HuffPost, 10/10/2013:

The 59-year-old Carter became the deputy defense secretary in October 2011 when Leon Panetta was the Pentagon chief. Before that he served as the head of acquisition, technology and logistics. He also served in the Pentagon in the mid-1990s.

Hagel said Carter has an "unparalleled knowledge of every facet" of the U.S. defense system and will be missed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/10/ashton-carter-resigning_n_4080225.html

[TwilightGardener]

8. I wouldn't mistake gracious statements that are expected of public officials

for "liking" someone. Those two guys have bad blood between them.

[Zorro]

9. Carter will be managing DoD budget reductions

As the former head of acquisition he probably knows where that broken process can be streamlined to reduce costs.

[FairWinds]

10. I con't think of a better reason to . .

join Veterans For Peace than this appointment.
Unless we turn this around they are going to turn
our grand kids into radioactive slag.

[Odin2005]

11. He actually nominated Mr Nuke-North-Korea? SERIOUSLY???

[FairWinds]

14. Many USAeans are Jingoists . .

who honestly believe that there are good and bad nuclear weapons -
"ours" are good, others "bad".
I know they believe that sincerely, but there is zero evidence for it.
The US started the nuke weapons business, has repeatedly threatened
to use them, and DID use them on civilian targets.
And they cannot even be built and deployed without fouling one's own
environmental nest.
In a word, they are satanic.

[Cha]

12. Thank you, ucr.. I trust the President to know who he's appointing for DS.. Good Luck to

them.

[ucrdem]

13. Thanks Cha . . .

I was sorry to hear about Hagel as he seemed well-intentioned but he might not have understood where the President wants to go with the military as fully as Carter, who was evidently the also-ran last year when Hagel was picked. Possibly the thinking was that Hagel would have less trouble getting Congress to confirm but that didn't work out so well as I recall.

Strangely enough PBO seems to be a lot less worried about offending Congress than he was before last month's election, maybe because there was always the threat of losing the Senate hanging over every nomination. Well, it happened, and the world didn't end, so maybe there's also some thought that if Hagel isn't working out he might as well get the guy he wanted in the first place.

Anyway I also wish them luck!