President Barack Obama’s nominee for secretary of defense Ashton Carter has a very strong position on nuclear non-proliferation issues, the Tower reports.
Some of those positions stand in contrast with those of the Obama administration.
Politico on Tuesday described him as a "leading member of a clique of defense intellectuals long concerned with the possibility of a nuclear terrorist attack" and suggested he "could be more consequential when it comes to Obama’s plans for dealing with Iran’s nuclear program."
Two months before President Obama’s 2008 election, Carter argued, in a paper coauthored with diplomatic heavyweights including former Special Middle East Coordinator Dennis Ross and Nonproliferation Policy Education Center Executive Director Henry Sokolski, that "Iran’s nuclear development may pose the most significant strategic threat to the United States during the next Administration." The Times of Israel covered Carter’s nomination, noting that he was a "vocal proponent of stronger action to stymie nuclear proliferation." Carter had visited the Jewish state in 2013, and was quoted as telling a group of Israeli soldiers that "protecting America means protecting Israel, and that’s why we’re here in the first place."
The Jerusalem Post reported on Friday that as part of the Pentagon’s Defense Advisory Acquisition Group, Carter played an "instrumental" role in the transfer of F-35 fighter jets from the U.S. to Israel. Israel recently placed a preliminary order to purchase 25 more of the state of the art fighters. Speaking Friday to reporters at the State Department press briefing about U.S.-Israel ties, Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf reaffirmed the closeness of the relationship, calling ties between the countries "incredibly close, essential" and "unshakable" and noting that it is "arguably the closest military-to-military relationship" the countries have ever had.