Carter Nominated as Next U.S. Deputy SecDef

President Obama will soon nominate Pentagon acquisition executive Ashton Carter to become deputy Defense secretary replacing William Lynn.

Lynn is expected to step down as the Pentagon’s No. 2 civilian this fall after more than two and a half years in the post.

Carter currently serves as the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, a favorite of many White House officials, and Navy acquisition executive Sean Stackley are the leading candidates to replace Carter as Pentagon acquisition chief.

Before taking his Pentagon job in 2009, Carter was chair of the International and Global Affairs faculty at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. From 2006 to 2008, he served as a member of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s International Security Advisory Board, according to the White House announcement.

During the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1996, Carter served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy.

“During that time, he directed military planning during the 1994 crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and was instrumental in removing all nuclear weapons from the territories of Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus,” the White House announcement said.

Carter holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Lynn told Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on July 1 of his plans to resign, saying the new secretary would be best served by a deputy who could stay through President Barack Obama’s first term. He said he would not be able to make that kind of commitment because he’d like to spend more time with his children.

Carter’s nomination now goes to the Senate for review.

From KATE BRANNEN Defense News and John T. Bennett The Hill