Text / Look at the United States
The family of former U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter issued a statement on Tuesday (25th) confirming that Carter died of a sudden heart attack on Monday (24th) night at the age of 68. During his tenure, Carter implemented the Obama administration's "pivot to the Pacific" policy aimed at counterbalancing China, and as the United States increased its naval presence in the Pacific, Carter repeatedly boarded U.S. aircraft carriers deployed in the Pacific.
As assistant secretary of state under Bill Clinton, Carter was one of a handful of people who held all four key Pentagon positions at the same time. By the time Obama nominated him to defense secretary in 2014, he had worked in nearly every corner of the Defense Department, including nuclear policy, logistics and weapons development. Graham Allison, who worked with Carter at Harvard and the Pentagon, said in a telephone interview, "Carter is the most prepared secretary of defense in our history."
As assistant defense secretary in the early '90s, Carter directed the Pentagon in securing nuclear weapons in the former Soviet republics, updating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and striking an agreement with North Korea to freeze its nuclear program. At the same time, he is one of the few who have raised concerns about the growing risk of what he calls "catastrophic terrorism."
He returned to the Pentagon under Obama, first as deputy secretary for logistics and procurement — basically the main arms procurement arm of the United States — and then as deputy secretary. In his first role, he faced rapidly changing security environments in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a wave of budget cuts. He solved both problems by cutting research and development programs for future weapons and directing funds to more pressing needs, such as drones and mine-protected vehicles to protect military personnel from roadside bombs.
In nominating Carter to succeed Chuck Hagel as defense secretary, Mr. Obama said, "It's no exaggeration to say that countless Americans are alive today in part because of Carter's efforts." ”
Unlike Hagel, who is often criticized for his passivity, Carter, as defense secretary, dared to speak out. In a 2015 interview with CNN, he was almost openly critical of Obama's strategy against the extremist group Islamic State (IS), and in 2017 he publicly questioned the decision to commute the sentence of Chelsea Manning convicted of leaking classified information.
Carter clashed with other cabinet members over "Russia poses a threat again," while many experts inside and outside the administration remained hopeful about improving relations. His first steps as secretary of state were to increase the U.S. military presence in six former Soviet bloc countries, including the Baltic states. Speaking to reporters in 2015, he said, "We don't seek a cold war with Russia, let alone a hot one." But there is no doubt that the United States will defend our interests and our allies, the principled international order and the positive future it offers for us all. ”
He believes in the importance of hard power, the ability of the United States to use its military might to shape global politics, a position that has at times strained him with others in the Obama administration. Still, Carter and Obama agreed on a number of important issues: the need to shift America's geostrategic focus to Asia, upgrade the U.S. military's technological capabilities, and bring equity across the services.
In January 2016, after a three-year review, Carter ordered all positions within the military, including combat positions, to be open to women. Six months later, he ordered that openly transgender people be allowed to serve, a directive later rescinded by President Donald J. Trump.
In a statement issued after Carter's death, Obama lamented, "As president, I rely on Carter's strategic advice, and over the long term, we have invested in innovation to build a stronger, smarter, more 'humane,' and more effective military." ”