U.S. President Barack Obama will announce his choice for a new defense secretary on Friday, his spokesman said, amid widespread speculation that former Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter would be the pick.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest did not say whom Obama has in mind.
Outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel offered to resign last week, saying it is the “right time for new leadership” to lead the Pentagon, amid reports he was stepping down under pressure. Hagel promised to stay on the job until his successor is confirmed.
Earlier this week, U.S. media widely reported that Obama has decided to nominate Carter.
Carter has had three stints at the Pentagon, most recently as deputy secretary from 2011 to 2013. Though he has no military experience, Carter has a good reputation and his nomination is unlikely to face strong opposition from the Senate.
His two other previous stints at the Pentagon are as under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics from
2009 to 2011, and assistant secretary for international security policy from 1993 to 1996. As assistant secretary, he also participated in negotiations to defuse the first North Korean nuclear crisis.
Carter is considered a hawk on North Korea issues.
In 2006, he openly called for a preemptive strike on a North Korean long-range missile.
Carter visited Seoul in March last year when North Korea was ratcheting up tensions with daily threats of nuclear war with the South and the U.S. While in Seoul, Carter revealed a U.S. plan to fly nuclear-capable B-52 bombers over South Korea on a training mission.
The highly unusual disclosure was seen as a show of force and warning to the North. (Yonhap)
