--- title: Obama Announces Ash Carter As Next Defense Secretary description: President Obama officially announced the nomination of Ash Carter as Secretary of Defense in the Roosevelt Room Friday. canonical: https://time.com/3620211/obama-ash-carter-defense-secretary/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-05T15:57:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:36:46.028Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Announces Ash Carter As Next Defense Secretary og:description: President Obama officially announced the nomination of Ash Carter as Secretary of Defense in the Roosevelt Room Friday. og:url: https://time.com/3620211/obama-ash-carter-defense-secretary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07e5b4a746da86c2/69876c8335ba6f6e15c05bb1/141215022846.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: FILE: Ashton Carter Expected To Be Nominated For U.S. Defense Secretary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Announces Ash Carter As Next Defense Secretary twitter:description: President Obama officially announced the nomination of Ash Carter as Secretary of Defense in the Roosevelt Room Friday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07e5b4a746da86c2/69876c8335ba6f6e15c05bb1/141215022846.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Announces Ash Carter as Next Defense Secretary > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Dec 5, 2014 3:57 PM UTC  President Obama is expected to tap the veteran Pentagon official to replace Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was eased out by a White House unhappy with his low-key style. Carter was the second-in-command at the Pentagon from 2011 to 2013 before he returned to academia and foundation work. President Obama is expected to tap the veteran Pentagon official to replace Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was eased out by a White House unhappy with his low-key style. Carter was the second-in-command at the Pentagon from 2011 to 2013 before he returned to academia and foundation work. Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Dec 5, 2014 3:57 PM UTC President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Ashton Carter as his next Secretary of Defense Friday, to replace current Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel, who resigned last month under pressure from the White House. Obama praised Carter, the former Pentagon No. 2 under Hagel and a respected technocrat, in a small Roosevelt Room ceremony, before an audience of administration officials and selected lawmakers, saying Carter “brings a unique blend of strategic perspective and technical knowhow.” “With a record of service that has spanned more than 30 years as a public servant, as an adviser, as a scholar, Ash is rightly regarded as one of our nation’s foremost national security leaders,” Obama said. In a brief statement, Carter thanked Obama for the nomination and promised to provide candid advice and to ensure that military commanders can do the same. “If confirmed, I pledge to you my most candid, strategic advice, and I pledge to you you will receive equally candid military advice,” he said. In an awkward turn, Hagel, who was scheduled to attend the announcement, backed out of the ceremony Friday morning, leaving Obama to quote Hagel’s praise of Carter from a year ago when he resigned as Deputy Secretary. “Secretary Hagel will not attend today’s ceremony at the White House,” a defense official said in a statement. “The Secretary believes strongly that this day belongs to Ash Carter and his nomination to be the next Secretary of Defense … The Secretary is proud of Ash and of their friendship and does not want in any way to detract from or distract the proper focus of the day.” Obama closed with a call on the Senate to swiftly confirm Carter to the post. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3620211/obama-ash-carter-defense-secretary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3620211/obama-ash-carter-defense-secretary/"},"headline":"Obama Announces Ash Carter as Next Defense Secretary","datePublished":"2014-12-05T15:57:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:36:46.028Z","description":"Former Secretary Chuck Hagel declined to attend the ceremony","url":"https://time.com/3620211/obama-ash-carter-defense-secretary/","keywords":["Military","Veterans","White House","National Security"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07e5b4a746da86c2/69876c8335ba6f6e15c05bb1/141215022846.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07e5b4a746da86c2/69876c8335ba6f6e15c05bb1/141215022846.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FILE: Ashton Carter Expected To Be Nominated For U.S. Defense Secretary","caption":"FILE: Ashton Carter Expected To Be Nominated For U.S. Defense Secretary","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3620211/obama-ash-carter-defense-secretary/","name":"Obama Announces Ash Carter as Next Defense Secretary"}}]}] ```