Headline Roundup December 2, 2014
Obama's Pick for New Defense Secretary
Featured Coverage of this Story
Washington Times
Ash Carter is expected to be nominated by President Obama to replace Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary, CNN is reporting.
Mr. Carter served under both Mr. Hagel and former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
Other high-profile contenders such as Michele Flournoy and Sen. Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, withdrew from contention.
Mr. Hagel resigned under pressure last week.
David Sedney, who served under Mr. Obama from 2009-2013 as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, said Mr. Hagel’s replacement “will be in a difficult position.”
Wall Street Journal (News)
Ashton Carter, the former deputy defense secretary, is the leading candidate to become the next Pentagon chief, but senior officials said President Barack Obama wouldn’t make an announcement Tuesday.
The president could announce his pick for defense secretary later this week, a senior White House official said. Mr. Carter, who was out of town Tuesday, is seen as the likely choice, officials said.
But the White House is continuing to look at other candidates, including former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and former assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.
New York Times (News)
— President Obama has settled on Ashton B. Carter to be the next defense secretary, senior administration officials said on Tuesday, but is not prepared to announce the move because the White House has not completed its vetting of him.
A former deputy defense secretary with a long history at the Pentagon — though no uniformed military service — Mr. Carter was on a short list of prospective defense secretaries from the moment that Chuck Hagel announced his resignation, under pressure, on Nov. 24.
Mr. Obama is not expected to...
