Ashton Carter’s knowledge and experience mean he won’t be a lapdog in the Pentagon when he takes over as defense secretary, but they also will tie him closely to the Obama administration policies he will be expected to defend.
Concerns about White House micromanagement of the Pentagon have shadowed the process that led to President Obama announcing Friday that Carter would replace current Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was forced out after devastating Democratic losses in midterm elections in which the administration’s handling of national security was an issue.
Carter is no stranger to the Pentagon, having served as deputy secretary from October 2011 until December 2013 and as undersecretary for acquisitions, technology and logistics for two years before that. In those jobs, he developed a reputation for candor that didn’t always toe the line with administration policy.
“If confirmed in this job, I pledge to you my most candid strategic advice. And I pledge also that you will receive equally candid military advice,” Carter told Obama on Friday.
But Carter also played a major role in developing many of the administration’s key policies, including its global military strategy, the blueprint for a shrinking defense budget and the revamped process by which the Pentagon buys weapons.
And though he is likely to be easily confirmed by the Senate, incoming Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., warned Friday that the administration’s policies would be on trial during Carter’s nomination hearings.
“I look forward to Dr. Carter’s confirmation hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee next year, which will provide a valuable opportunity to fully ventilate all of issues around this administration’s feckless foreign policy, and its grave consequences for the safety and security of our nation,” McCain said.
As secretary, Carter is likely to be kept on a short leash by the White House, which could lead to more tension and pushback from the Pentagon, such as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey’s remarks to Congress that he would be willing to recommend the use of U.S. ground troops for the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria if necessary, in spite of Obama’s insistence that would never happen.
One of the issues that reportedly led to Obama’s break with Hagel, a former Republican senator who held views close to the president’s on many key defense issues, was Hagel’s criticism of the administration’s efforts against the Islamic State in Syria.
“He won’t be able to escape defending the policy,” said Gary Schmitt, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Carter also likely will suffer from a lack of political clout stemming from the knowledge that he wasn’t Obama’s first choice for the job, but rose to the top after other candidates took themselves out of the running, Schmitt said.
“Carter is a good manager, and will help run the Department of Defense as well as it can be done, but he will not be a strategic policy player,” said Steven Bucci, a former Pentagon official now at the Heritage Foundation.
