Obama Nominates Carter as Next Deputy Secretary

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2, 2011 — Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma today nom­i­nat­ed the Pentagon’s head of acqui­si­tions, tech­nol­o­gy and logis­tics to become the next deputy sec­re­tary of defense.

Ash­ton B. Carter, whose nom­i­na­tion is sub­ject to Sen­ate con­fir­ma­tion, would replace William J. Lynn III, with whom he has worked close­ly and who recent­ly announced his resignation.

Carter was appoint­ed to his cur­rent under­sec­re­tary posi­tion in April 2009, and has been a leader in Pen­ta­gon efforts to run the depart­ment more effi­cient­ly and find cost savings. 

His was among sev­er­al nom­i­na­tions for var­i­ous posi­tions that the White House announced today. 

“These ded­i­cat­ed indi­vid­u­als bring a wealth of expe­ri­ence and tal­ent to their new roles, and I am proud to have them serve in this admin­is­tra­tion,” Oba­ma in a state­ment announc­ing the nom­i­na­tions. “I look for­ward to work­ing with them in the months and years to come.” 

Last week, Oba­ma appoint­ed Carter to the 11-mem­ber Gov­ern­ment Account­abil­i­ty and Trans­paren­cy Board, which he estab­lished in June to cut waste, fraud and abuse in the fed­er­al government. 

In his two years as under­sec­re­tary, Carter has cham­pi­oned efforts that began under for­mer Defense Sec­re­tary Robert M. Gates and con­tin­ue under Defense Sec­re­tary Leon E. Panet­ta to find cost sav­ings in the bud­get, espe­cial­ly in acqui­si­tions, and to redi­rect mon­ey to sup­port warfight­ers and speed up the field­ing of equip­ment and oth­er needs to deployed troops.

Carter is serv­ing in his sec­ond appoint­ment in the Pen­ta­gon; he was assis­tant sec­re­tary of defense for inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty pol­i­cy from 1993 to 1996. Before return­ing to the Pen­ta­gon in 2009, he chaired the Inter­na­tion­al and Glob­al Affairs fac­ul­ty at Har­vard University’s Kennedy School of Gov­ern­ment and was co-direc­tor with for­mer Defense Sec­re­tary William J. Per­ry of the Pre­ven­tive Defense Project. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

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