Ash Carter

Ashton Baldwin Carter (born September 24, 1954) is an American public policy professor who served as the 25th secretary of defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He is currently Director of the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.[2]

Ash Carter
25th United States Secretary of Defense
In office
February 17, 2015 – January 20, 2017
PresidentBarack Obama
DeputyRobert O. Work
Preceded byChuck Hagel
Succeeded byJim Mattis
31st United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
In office
October 6, 2011 – December 3, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byWilliam J. Lynn III
Succeeded byRobert O. Work
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics
In office
April 27, 2009 – October 5, 2011
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byJohn J. Young Jr.
Succeeded byFrank Kendall III
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs
In office
June 30, 1993 – September 14, 1996
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byStephen Hadley
Succeeded byJack Dyer Crouch II (2001)
Personal details
Born
Ashton Baldwin Carter

(1954-09-24) September 24, 1954
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic[1]
Spouse(s)Clayton Spencer (divorced)
Stephanie DeLeeuw
RelationsCynthia DeFelice (sister)
Children2
EducationYale University (BA)
St John's College, Oxford (PhD)

Carter began his career as a physicist. After a brief experience as an analyst for the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, he switched careers to public policy. He joined the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1984 and became chair of the International & Global Affairs faculty.[3] Carter served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy during President Clinton's first term, from 1993 to 1996, responsible for policy regarding the former Soviet states, strategic affairs, and nuclear weapons. During President Obama's first term, he served first as Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics and then Deputy Secretary of Defense until December 2013. In February 2015, he replaced Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense and served until the end of the Obama administration.[4] A notable act during his tenure at the Department was his end of the ban on transgender officers in the military, which remained in place for only a year before the Trump administration reinstated it.

For his service to national security, Carter has on five occasions been awarded the DOD Distinguished Public Service Medal. He has also received the CJCS Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award, and the Defense Intelligence Medal for his contributions to intelligence. Carter is author or co-author of 11 books and more than 100 articles on physics, technology, national security, and management.

Early life

Ashton Baldwin Carter was born on September 24, 1954, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father is William Stanley Carter Jr., a World War II veteran, Navy neurologist and psychiatrist, and department chairman at Abington Memorial Hospital for 30 years. His mother is Anne Baldwin Carter, an English teacher.[5][6][7][8][9] He has three siblings, including children's book author Cynthia DeFelice. As a child he was nicknamed Ash and Stoobie.[6][9]

He was raised in Abington, Pennsylvania, on Wheatsheaf Lane.[7] At age 11, working at his first job at a Philadelphia car wash, he was fired for "wise-mouthing the owner."[10][11]

Education

Carter was educated at Highland Elementary School (class of 1966) and at Abington Senior High School (class of 1972) in Abington. In high school he was a wrestler, lacrosse player, cross-country runner, and president of the Honor Society.[7][12] He was inducted into Abington Senior High School's Hall of Fame in 1989.[13]

He attended the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in the spring of 1975.[14] In 1976 Carter received a B.A. in his double-major of Physics and Medieval History from Yale College, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.[14][15][16] His senior thesis, "Quarks, Charm and the Psi Particle," was published in Yale Scientific in 1975.[17][18] He was also an experimental research associate at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in 1975 (where he worked on quark research) and at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1976.[11][19]

Carter then became a Rhodes Scholar, studying at the University of Oxford, from which he received his DPhil in theoretical physics in 1979.[11][16]

He was subsequently a postdoctoral fellow research associate in theoretical physics at Rockefeller University from 1979 to 1980, studying time-reversal invariance and dynamical symmetry breaking.[19][20][21] He was then a research fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies from 1982 to 1984, during which time he wrote a public report assessing that the Reagan-proposed "Star Wars" initiative could not protect the US from a Soviet nuclear attack.[19][20][21]

Academic career

Carter taught at Harvard University, as an assistant professor from 1984 to 1986, associate professor from 1986 to 1988, professor and associate director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government from 1988 to 1990, and director of the Center from 1990 to 1993.[19] At the Kennedy School, he became chair of the International and Global Affairs faculty and Ford Foundation Professor of Science and International Affairs. He concurrently was co-director of the Preventive Defense Project of Harvard and Stanford Universities.[19]

Early Department of Defense career
From left, Carter, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, and President Barack Obama in 2012
Carter arrives in Herat, Afghanistan, in 2013

From 1993 to 1996, Carter served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy during President Clinton's first term.[22][23] He was responsible for strategic affairs, including dealing with the threat of weapons of mass destruction elsewhere in the world, nuclear weapons policy (including overseeing the U.S. nuclear arsenal and missile defenses), the 1994 Nuclear Posture Review, the Agreed Framework signed in 1994 which froze North Korea's plutonium-producing nuclear reactor program,[24] the 1995 extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,[25] the negotiation of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and the multibillion-dollar Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program and Project Sapphire that removed all nuclear weapons from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.[23][11][26][27] Carter directed military planning during the 1994 crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.[24] He was also responsible for dealing with the establishment of defense and intelligence relationships with former Soviet countries in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and its nuclear arsenal, and was chairman of NATO's High Level Group.[11][27] He was also responsible for the Counter proliferation Initiative, control of sensitive US exports, and negotiations that led to the deployment of Russian troops as part of the Bosnia Peace Plan Implementation Force.[27]

From April 2009 to October 2011, Carter was Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, with responsibility for DOD's procurement reform and innovation agenda and completion of procurements such as the KC-46 tanker.[23] He also led the development and production of thousands of mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles, and other acquisitions.[23] He instituted "Better Buying Power," seeking smarter and leaner purchasing.[23] From October 2011 to December 2013, Carter was Deputy Secretary of Defense, serving as the DOD's chief operating officer, overseeing the department's annual budget and its three million civilian and military personnel, steering strategy and budget through sequester, and directing the reform of DOD's national security export controls.[22][23][28] He was confirmed by Senate voice vote for both positions.[29]

In an April 4, 2013, speech, he affirmed that the 'Shift to Asia' initiative of President Obama was a priority that would not be affected by the budget sequestration in 2013. Carter noted that The Shift to Asia is principally an economic matter with new security implications. India, Australia, and New Zealand were mentioned as forthcoming security partners.[30] His Pentagon arms-control responsibilities included matters involving the START II, ABM, CFE, and other arms-control treaties.

Secretary of Defense
Carter's official portrait

Carter was nominated by President Obama to be the 25th United States Secretary of Defense on December 5, 2014.[31][32][33]

In his nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he said he was "very much inclined" to increase U.S. military aid to Ukraine.[34][35] Speaking on the Middle East, he said the U.S. must militarily ensure a "lasting defeat" of Islamic State (ISIL) forces in Iraq and Syria.[34][35] He said he is not in favor of increasing the rate of prisoner releases from Guantanamo Bay.[36] He also opined that the threats posed by Iran were as serious as those posed by the ISIL forces.[34][35]

He was approved unanimously on February 1, 2015, by the Senate Armed Services Committee. He was confirmed by the Senate on February 12 by a vote of 93–5[33][37] and sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden on February 17.[38]

In May 2015, Carter warned China to halt its rapid island-building in the South China Sea.[39]

In October 2015, Carter condemned Russian air strikes against ISIL and other rebel groups in Syria. On October 8, 2015, Carter, speaking at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, said he believed Russia would soon start paying the price for its military intervention in Syria in the form of reprisal attacks and casualties.[40]

Carter with Saudi Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, Pentagon, May 13, 2015

A controversy arose in December 2015 when it was revealed that Carter had used a personal email account when conducting official business as Secretary of Defense.[41]

In January 2016, at Carter's direction, the Department of Defense opened all military roles to women, overriding a request by the Marine Corps to continue to exempt women from certain positions.[42] In June 2016, Carter announced that transgender individuals would be allowed to join and openly serve in the military.[43]

Other roles
Carter at the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea
Carter, William Perry and former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, October 12, 2012

From 1990 to 1993, Carter was chairman of the Editorial Board of International Security. Previously, he held positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and Rockefeller University.

In 1997, Carter and former CIA Director John M. Deutch co-chaired the Catastrophic Terrorism Study Group which urged greater attention to terrorism. In 1998 Carter, Deutch and Philip Zelikow (later executive director of the 9/11 Commission) published an article on "catastrophic terrorism" in Foreign Affairs.[44] From 1998 to 2000, he was deputy to William J. Perry in the North Korea Policy Review and traveled with him to Pyongyang.[24] In 2001–02, he served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism, and advised on the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

Carter was also co-director of the Preventive Defense Project,[45] which designs and promotes security policies aimed at preventing the emergence of major new threats to the US.

Carter had been a longtime member of the Defense Science Board and the Defense Policy Board, the principal advisory bodies to the Secretary of Defense. During the Bush administration, he was also a member of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's International Security Advisory Board; co-chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Policy Advisory Group; a consultant to the Defense Science Board; a member of the National Missile Defense White Team, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control. He has testified frequently before the armed services, foreign relations, and homeland security committees of both houses of Congress.

In addition to his public service, Carter was a senior partner at Global Technology Partners, focused on advising investment firms in technology and defense. He has been a consultant to Goldman Sachs and Mitretek Systems on international affairs and technology matters, and speaks frequently to business and policy audiences.

He was also a member of the boards of directors of the Mitre Corporation and Mitretek Systems and the advisory boards of MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Draper Laboratory. Carter was also a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Physical Society, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Carter was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was named as a Fellow in the American Physical Society (Forum on Physics & Society) in 2015.

Carter also serves as an Honorary Director on the Board of Directors at the Atlantic Council.[46]

Carter meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, 21 July 2015

Positions

Views on Iran

Carter's views on Iran have been perceived as hawkish.[16] In 2006, he authored a report for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace advocating use or threat of force to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.[16] Carter has supported diplomacy with Iran and written about methods of containing a nuclear-armed Tehran.[47]

Support for military interventions
Carter meeting with Mohammed bin Salman and his advisor Ahmad Asiri in 2016
Carter departing from the Pentagon on his last day in office

Carter was a supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as well as an advocate of "preventative" invasions of North Korea and Iran.[48][49][50] In response to increase in tension in Ukraine, Carter considered proposing deployment of ground-launched cruise missiles in Europe that could pre-emptively destroy Russian weapons.[51]

U.S. Representative Ted Lieu has criticized Obama's administration for its continued support for Saudi Arabian-led military intervention in Yemen. On 2 March 2016, he sent a letter to Carter. Lieu, who served in the U.S. Air Force, wrote in the letter that the "apparent indiscriminate airstrikes on civilian targets in Yemen seem to suggest that either the coalition is grossly negligent in its targeting or is intentionally targeting innocent civilians."[52][53]

Personal life

Carter is married to Stephanie (DeLeeuw) Carter.[14] He was previously married to the current and eighth president of Bates College, Clayton Spencer, with whom he has two grown children, Ava and Will.[14][54]

Awards

Carter received the Ten Outstanding Young Americans award from the United States Junior Chamber in 1987.[55] For his service to national security, Carter has been awarded the DOD's highest civilian medal, the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, five times.[23] For critical liaison efforts with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the geographic combatant commanders, he was awarded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 2013.[23] He also received the Defense Intelligence Medal for his contributions to intelligence.[23]

Works

In addition to authoring numerous articles, scientific publications, government studies, and Congressional testimonies, Carter co-edited and co-authored 11 books:

  • MX Missile Basing (1981)
  • Ballistic Missile Defense (1984)
  • Directed Energy Missile Defense in Space (1984)
  • Managing Nuclear Operations (1987)
  • Soviet Nuclear Fission: Control of the Nuclear Arsenal in a Disintegrating Soviet Union (1991)
  • Beyond Spinoff: Military and Commercial Technologies in a Changing World (1992)
  • A New Concept of Cooperative Security (1992)
  • Cooperative Denuclearization: From Pledges to Deeds (1993)
  • Preventive Defense: A New Security Strategy for America (1997)
  • Keeping the Edge: Managing Defense for the Future (2001)
  • Inside the Five-Sided Box: Lessons from a Lifetime of Leadership in the Pentagon (2019)
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References
  1. Cooper, Helene; Sanger, David E.; Landler, Mark (December 5, 2014). "In Ashton Carter, Nominee for Defense Secretary, a Change in Direction". The New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2015. Mr. Carter is a Democrat but not one of the core Obama loyalists, a group that includes Ms. Rice and Denis R. McDonough, the White House chief of staff.
  2. "Ash Carter | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs". Harvard Kennedy School. December 18, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  3. Carter, Ash (2006). "Faculty Career Profile". Harvard Kennedy School Magazine.
  4. "Ashton B. Carter - Barack Obama Administration". Office of the Secretary of Defense - Historical Office.
  5. "Angola St., Ocoee, died Monday..." Orlando Sentinel. August 2, 1994.
  6. Sally Jacobs. "Ashton Carter: savvy tactician, independent thinker". Boston Globe.
  7. "Abington recalls 'brilliant' alum said in line to lead Pentagon". Philadelphia Daily News.
  8. Herb Drill (August 14, 1994). "Obituaries". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  9. "About Cynthia – Cynthia DeFelice". cynthiadefelice.com.
  10. "Everything You Need to Know About Ashton Carter". wlsam.com. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015.
  11. "Faculty Career Profile; Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Ashton B. Carter". harvard.edu.
  12. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 14, 2015. Retrieved 2015-02-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Abington Graduate Ashton Carter Could Be Next Secretary Of Defense". FOX 29 News Philadelphia – WTXF-TV. December 3, 2014. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015.
  14. "Ashton Carter Fast Facts". CNN. December 11, 2014.
  15. Devin Dwyer. "Why Obama's New Defense Nominee Ashton Carter Likes 'Charmed Quarks'". ABC News.
  16. Rebecca Shimoni Stoil, Obama names Ashton Carter as next defense secretary, The Times of Israel, December 5, 2014
  17. "Why Obama's New Defense Nominee Ashton Carter Likes 'Charmed Quarks'". KMBZ.
  18. Steve Straehley. "Appointments and Resignations – Secretary of Defense: Who Is Ashton Carter?". AllGov.
  19. "Ashton B. Carter" (PDF). Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  20. Byron Tau (December 2, 2014). "Who Is Ashton Carter? A Look at Obama's Leading Defense Secretary Candidate". The Wall Street Journal.
  21. "Resume" (PDF). www.belfercenter.org. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  22. "Ashton B. Carter". Belfer Center.
  23. "Ashton B. Carter; Secretary of Defense". United States Department of Defense.
  24. "Kim's Nuclear Gamble: Interview: Ashton Carter". Frontline. PBS. March 3, 2003. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
  25. Tom Sauer (2005). Nuclear Inertia: US Weapons Policy After the Cold War. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 1850437653.
  26. Carter, Ashton B. (September 2004). "How to Counter WMD". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  27. "Ashton B. Carter; Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics" Archived December 31, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, US House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations
  28. "Defense.gov Transcript: Remarks by Deputy Secretary Carter on the U.S.-India Defense Partnership at the Center for American Progress". United States Department of Defense. September 30, 2013.
  29. "Senate Armed Services Committee". Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  30. "Video: Statesmen's Forum: The Honorable Ashton B. Carter, Deputy Secretary of Defense". Center for Strategic and International Studies. April 9, 2013. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  31. "Obama picks former Pentagon official Ashton Carter to be defense secretary". Fox News Channel. December 5, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  32. Sara Fischer (December 5, 2014). "Obama nominates Ash Carter to lead Defense". CNN. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  33. Craig Whitlock (February 12, 2015). "Senate confirms Ashton B. Carter as secretary of defense". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  34. Dion Nissenbaum (February 4, 2015). "U.S. Defense Nominee Leans Toward Arms for Ukraine in Fight". The Wall Street Journal.
  35. W.J. Hennigan (February 12, 2015). "Senate confirms Ashton Carter as new secretary of Defense". Los Angeles Times.
  36. David Lerman. "Senate Confirms Ashton Carter as Obama's Fourth Pentagon Chief". Bloomberg.
  37. Emmarie Huetteman. "Ashton B. Carter Is Confirmed as Defense Chief, Replacing Chuck Hagel". The New York Times.
  38. Bill Chappell (February 17, 2015). "Ashton Carter Is Sworn In As Obama's 4th Defense Secretary". NPR.
  39. "Defense secretary's warning to China: U.S. military won't change operations". The Washington Post. May 27, 2015.
  40. "Russia will pay price for Syrian airstrikes, says US defence secretary". The Guardian. October 8, 2015.
  41. "Defense Secretary Conducted Some Official Business on a Personal Email Account". The New York Times. December 16, 2015.
  42. Cheryl Pellerin (December 3, 2015). "Carter Opens All Military Occupations, Positions to Women". Department of Defense.
  43. "Secretary of Defense Ash Carter Announces Policy for Transgender Service Members". Department of Defense. June 30, 2016.
  44. Ashton B. Carter, John Deutch, and Philip Zelikow: "Catastrophic Terrorism: Tackling the New Danger", Foreign Affairs, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1998-11-01/catastrophic-terrorism-tackling-new-danger
  45. "Biography of The Honorable Ashton Carter". Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  46. "Board of Directors". Atlantic Council. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  47. Crowley, Michael. "Can a wonk run a war?; Ash Carter is a scholar, a bureaucrat — and the opposite of Chuck Hagel". Politico. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  48. "If Necessary, Strike and Destroy". The Washington Post. June 22, 2006
  49. "Interview: Ashton Carter". PBS. March 3, 2003.
  50. "Another victory for Bush". The Baltimore Sun. December 24, 2003
  51. "US could potential deploy missiles in Europe to deter Russia". Deutsche Welle. June 5, 2015.
  52. ""Look like war crimes to me": Congressman raises concerns over U.S. support for Saudi war in Yemen". Salon. March 17, 2016.
  53. Lieu, Ted (March 2, 2016). "Letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter" (PDF). Ted Lieu. US House of Representatives. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  54. "Atlantic Council Board Member Ashton Carter Opens Testimony to the Senate". Atlantic Council. February 4, 2015.
  55. "Ten Outstanding Young Americans". Archived from the original on February 19, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
Political offices
Preceded by
Stephen Hadley		 Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs
1993–1996		 Vacant
Title next held by
Jack Dyer Crouch II
Preceded by
John Young		 Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics
2009–2011		 Succeeded by
Frank Kendall
Preceded by
William J. Lynn III		 United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
2011–2013		 Succeeded by
Robert O. Work
Preceded by
Chuck Hagel		 United States Secretary of Defense
2015–2017		 Succeeded by
Jim Mattis
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