Subscribe
Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Ashton B. Carter talks about the Defense Department's budgetary challenges at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., May 7, 2013.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Ashton B. Carter talks about the Defense Department's budgetary challenges at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., May 7, 2013. (Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes)

WASHINGTON — Ashton Carter, the former No. 2 civilian at the Pentagon, is the likely pick to succeed outgoing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, media sources reported Tuesday.

The reports, which cited unspecified administration officials, said Carter had risen to the top of a thin field of contenders for the job, and would be nominated barring last-minute complications.

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., a key member of the Armed Services Committee, told the Associated Press on Tuesday morning that the White House said Carter would be the pick. Inhofe’s spokesman later recanted the comment, saying “there was a misunderstanding.”

If confirmed for the job, he’ll take over leadership of the U.S. campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, oversee the transition from the NATO combat mission in Afghanistan and face the prospect of increasingly security challenges from Russia and China. Carter would also dive back into a subject with which he is intimately familiar — deep defense budget cuts.

Defense officials, however, told Stars and Stripes early Tuesday they couldn’t confirm Carter’s selection, and said they did not know who President Barack Obama would tap for the job.

Others named as potential replacements for Hagel, who resigned under pressure last week as the administration struggled to deal with a range of security issues, have already taken themselves out of the running to helm the Department of Defense in Obama’s final two years in office.

Former DOD policy chief Michele Flournoy and Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, both announced they would not take the job. And according to a report by The Associated Press, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, the former top Pentagon lawyer, told the president he wasn’t interested either.

Carter, 60, was considered a top contender for the job in 2012 after then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced his impending retirement. Instead, Obama nominated Hagel, a former senator and enlisted Vietnam War veteran, and Carter remained deputy secretary until leaving the Defense Department last December.

Carter, who holds a degree in theoretical physics from Oxford University and is widely regarded as the possessor of a powerful intellect, has been entrenched in the technical and policy sides of the U.S. military for decades. From 2009 to 2011, Carter served as the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer as Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. He served as a member of the Defense Science Board throughout most of the 1990s, and served as well in various policy positions throughout several presidential administrations.

As deputy to Panetta and Hagel, Carter played a prominent role in DOD’s response to an expected $1 trillion dollar downturn in defense spending over a decade. Facing the prospect of sequestration, automatic budget cuts required by federal law, he warned in 2013 of “perverse, unsafe and wasteful consequences.”

If confirmed, Carter will step into what may be a politically dicey job. Previous defense secretaries under Obama had criticized the administration for micromanagement of DOD affairs, and Hagel reportedly had the same objections.

Whoever takes the job will struggle to shape administration policies and White House-Pentagon relations, Lawrence Korb, a former assistant defense secretary, told AP.

“The clock is ticking in terms of being able to make significant changes,” said Korb, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

Mindful of the time pressures brought on by the impending end of Obama’s term, some White House officials are pressing the president to name Hagel’s replacement quickly, AP reported. An announcement could come as early as this week, according to officials who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss Obama’s decision-making process.

Stars and Stripes reporter Jon Harper contributed to this report.

carroll.chris@stripes.com Twitter: @ChrisCarroll_

Sign Up for Daily Headlines

Sign up to receive a daily email of today's top military news stories from Stars and Stripes and top news outlets from around the world.

Sign Up Now