Physicist Ashton Carter nominated as next defense secretary of US

Physicist Ashton Carter was nominated as the next defence secretary of US Department of Defence. He was nominated by the President Barack Obama on 5 December 2014.

Ashton will replace Chuck Hagel as US Defence Secretary, who resigned in November 2014. He will take over as defense secretary in 2015. He will be the fourth defence secretary of President Obama in six years.

About Ashton Carter
• Ashton carter was born in 1954 and he is a physicist and former Harvard professor.
• He was professor and chair of the International Relations, Science, and Security faculty in Kennedy school of Harvard.
• He served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy under President Clinton (1993-94).
• As assistant secretary of defence, he directed military planning during the 1994 crisis over nuclear weapons program of North Korea and he played an important role in removing all nuclear weapons from the territories of Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
• He authored many articles, scientific publications, government studies and Congressional testimonies.
• He authored books like Directed Energy Missile Defense in Space, Ballistic Missile Defense, Managing Nuclear Operations , Soviet Nuclear Fission: Control of the Nuclear Arsenal in a Disintegrating Soviet Union  and Keeping the Edge: Managing Defense for the Future .
• He had been a longtime member of the Defense Science Board and the Defense Policy Board, the principal advisory bodies to the Secretary of Defense of US.