President Obama is expected to nominate former Pentagon official Ashton Carter as secretary of defense, CNN reported Saturday.
Hagel will remain in office until his successor has been confirmed by the Senate.
Carter was nominated to his previous position, deputy defense secretary, by Obama in 2011. Before that, he was the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer. He was a contender for Secretary of Defense in 2013, and left the Pentagon at the end of that year after Hagel was nominated.
He has ties to the private defense industry, with previous experience at a tech and defense firm and advisory experience for Goldman Sachs.
While Hagel was brought on to manage a shrinking defense budget and the drawdown of the war in Afghanistan, Carter will be forced to deal with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a resurgent Taliban and Islamic militants in Africa. He also will be tasked with overseeing the U.S. effort to combat Ebola in West Africa.
Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe said he “very strongly” supports Carter to replace Chuck Hagel, who announced his resignation last week.
Representatives for Carter and White House officials have not yet commented on the news.
This story was first published at 9:49 a.m. and has been updated.
