Ashton Carter, United States Secretary of Defense

Wikipedia

Ashton Baldwin "Ash" Carter (born September 24, 1954) is the United States Secretary of Defense. He is also a physicist and a former Harvard University professor of Science and International Affairs. He was nominated by President Barack Obama, and confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 93–5, to replace Chuck Hagel as the US Secretary of Defense.

Carter received a B.A. in his double-major of Physics and Medieval History from Yale University, summa cum laude, in 1976. He then became a Rhodes Scholar, and studied at the University of Oxford, from which he received his doctorate in Theoretical Physics in 1979. He worked on quantum chromodynamics, the quantum field theory that was then postulated to explain the behavior of nuclear reactions and the structure of subatomic particles. He was a postdoctoral fellow research associate in Theoretical Physics at Rockefeller University from 1979 to 1980, and a research fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies from 1982 to 1984.

Carter taught at Harvard University, beginning in 1986. He ultimately rose to become Chair of the International & Global Affairs faculty, and Ford Foundation Professor of Science & International Affairs, at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Carter is author or co-author of 11 books and more than 100 articles on physics, technology, national security, and management.

Carter served as US 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 policy. He was Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics from April 2009 to October 2011, 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 was then Deputy Secretary of Defense from October 2011 to December 2013, serving as the Chief Operating Officer of the DOD overseeing more than $600 billion per year and 2.4 million civilian and military personnel, and managing global 24/7 operations. He was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate for both the number-two and number-three Pentagon positions.

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.