Ash Carter and Secretary Chuck Hagel at a 2013 press conference.
President Obama nominated former Pentagon official Ash Carter to be his next secretary of defense on Friday, replacing outgoing Secretary Chuck Hagel. Carter served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from October 2011 to December 2013 and was the department's chief operating officer, according to a biography provided by the White House.
Ash was Deputy Secretary of Defense from October 2011 to December 2013, serving as DOD’s chief operating officer overseeing more than $600 billion per year and 2.4 million civilian and military personnel, and managing global 24/7 operations. From April 2009 to October 2011, he was Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics with responsibility for procurement of all technology, systems, services, and supplies, bases and infrastructure, energy and environment, and more than $50 billion annually in R&D.
He also served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy under President Clinton. Carter is currently a visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and a lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
Hagel did not appear at the announcement. According to a defense official, he "believes strongly" that the day belongs to Carter and did not want to distract from his nomination.