White House officials have confirmed that Ashton Carter, a physicist and official who has served in the Pentagon, will be announced as Obama’s nomination for Secretary of Defense.  Carter will be nominated for what is considered one of the most difficult jobs in the United States’ government.  Previous Secretaries have complained of consistent micromanaging from the Obama administration.  White House press secretary Josh Earnest Carter told reporters, “I can tell you that whoever [the Secretary of Defense] is, it will be very clear about what the chain of command is and they’ll understand that the president of the United States is the commander-in-chief and sits atop the chain of command.”

Carter was the last candidate standing; all other potential nominees dropped out early, some citing the difficulty and stress of the position. Despite not serving in the armed forces, Carter certainly has an impressive résumé.  He earned degrees in physics and medieval history from Yale (his senior thesis was the use of Latin by Monks to describe the territory Flanders in Belgium) and graduated summa cum laude.  He earned his doctorate in theoretical physics, a field in which he has published several papers, from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.  He has been on Harvard’s faculty and lectured at Stanford.  Carter is a specialist on nuclear weapon policy and made major contributions in United States’ policy.  Carter has served under Obama and Clinton, most prominently as the Chief Operating Officer of the Department of Defense.  Carter oversaw 2.4 million military and civilian and military personnel and managed its global operations.

Carter has relatively strong support from top Republicans, including Sens. Jim Inhofe and John McCain (who will chair the Senate Armed Forces Committee), and is generally expected to have an easy confirmation process.  With that being said, there are some concerns that will be inevitably brought up in the hearings.  Carter wrote decidedly anti-C.I.A. articles for his college newspaper.  He has also worked for some high-paying, questionable consultation firms.

Ashton Carter’s nomination comes after Chuck Hagel, the current Defense Secretary, tendered his resignation.  While the exact reasons for his resignation are disputed, there have been considerable complaints about his job performance.  For example, Hagel’s work ethic and willingness to listen to advice from the Pentagon outside of his own aides has often been questioned.  In addition, some have suggested that there has been tension between Hagel and the White House over policy issues (both the White House and Hagel have denied these claims).  Perhaps most importantly, Hagel failed to penetrate Obama’s inner circle of advisees.  Obama has reportedly increasingly relied on this small group for policy advice; Hagel simply did not make the cut.  It is yet to be seen whether Carter will impress Obama and be a part of the major policy decisions made by the administration.