Unconfirmed reports emanating from Washington hint that President Obama has bet upon Ashton Carter to be his defense secretary. However the news has not been confirmed and Fox News has only said that he is the top contender for the post.
It was CNN which had first burst the bubble that Carter who held the post of Deputy Defense Secretary from 2011 to 2013 is the pick. If the above news is true, it will be the Obama’s fourth Pentagon chief in his six year period. The post became vacant after Hagel abruptly resigned after only two years on the job.
Carter has an illustrious career and his former role was as a chief operating officer. He also served as deputy Defense secretary and held the post of technology and weapons-buying chief for Pentagon for more than two years. He was the assistant secretary of Defense for international security policy under President Bill Clinton. Before his stint in the Clinton administration he held the post of Director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School.
He was considered as protégé of a concept which former Defense Secretary William Perry championed in the 1990s, known as “preventive defense.” It was formulated in the aftermath of the Cold War when US could preempt security threats by forging and strengthening security partnerships with China, Russia and others.
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