Former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, 68, a Rhodes scholar and theoretical physicist who helmed the Pentagon between 2015 and 2017, died of a heart attack on Oct. 24 at his home in Boston.
At the time of his death, he was director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also served as a board member at General Electric [GE], MITRE, and MIT’s Lincoln Laboratories.
As the Pentagon’s acquisition chief between 2009 and 2011, Carter was a force behind continued development of mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles that included soldier-inspired modifications. DoD ended up fielding 12,000 MRAPs between 2007 and 2012 to protect soldiers from improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As deputy secretary of defense from 2011 to 2013, Carter oversaw the Pentagon budget during the period of sequestration and the shift in DoD strategy from Iraq and Afghanistan to the Asia-Pacific.
As defense secretary, Carter launched a defense cyber strategy and created the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) in 2015 to help DoD take rapid advantage of commercial technology, which has led to advances in areas such as predictive maintenance and domestic drone manufacturing.
Carter also backed DoD coordination with NATO and the modernization of the Ukrainian military (Defense Daily, Feb. 9, 2016).
During the Clinton administration, between 1993 and 1996, Carter served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy and led the Nunn-Lugar program to remove nuclear weapons in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.
A Philadelphia native, Carter graduated summa cum laude with bachelor’s degrees in physics/medieval history from Yale University where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He received his doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford University.
“Ash was a leader on all the major national security issues of our times – from nuclear deterrence to proliferation prevention to missile defense to emerging technology challenges to the fight against Al Qaida and ISIS,” President Biden said in an Oct. 25th statement. “He opened every field of military service to women and protected the rights of transgender service members.”
As president, Biden said that he relied on Carter’s “expertise through his presence on my Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.”
Carter “was relentless in his pursuit of technology solutions for our warfighters, rapidly accelerating delivery of mine resistant vehicles to our troops to protect them from improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Biden said. “His work saved countless lives and limbs. On many weekends Ash and his beloved wife Stephanie would quietly visit wounded warriors at Walter Reed. He did so out of the spotlight, demonstrating the personal integrity and sense of duty that distinguished him throughout his life.”