Ashton Carter To Succeed Hagel as Secretary of Defense. Who Is Really in Charge at the White House?

Sixty-year-old Ashton Carter, formerly second-in-command at the Pentagon from October 2011 to December 2013, has been announced as Hagel’s replacement by CNN.

Carter will be the fourth secretary of state during Obama’s mandate, after Robert Gates, Leon Panetta and Hagel. The question that everybody is asking is the following: how will the United States’ defense policy regarding the world’s hotspots change? Who will prevail, the hawks or the doves? In order to be able to answer this question, it is necessary to understand what is behind Hagel’s departure, given that, as everyone already acknowledges, Hagel is not willingly resigning. Obama is at loggerheads with Hagel and so the former Republican senator of Nebraska is being “shown” to the door.

Hagel unleashed the storm leading to his resignation when he wrote two “colorful” letters in which he expressed his disappointment over Obama’s mismanagement of the crises in Syria and Ukraine. According to Hagel, the management of the crises has been weak and inconclusive. It is easy to assume that Obama acted hastily, given the fact that he has been friends with the former Pentagon leader since the days when they were both senators (in disagreement with his own party, Hagel voted against the Iraq War).

Is this a case of Obama taking revenge on an ungrateful Hagel? Or is there something more? There seems to be more. Hagel’s notorious letter was even delivered to Susan Rice, Obama’s immensely powerful national security adviser. Fifty-year-old Rice, former ambassador to the United Nations, made the mistake of giving a misleading account on national television of what happened during the terrorist attack at the American embassy in Benghazi (Libya), which claimed the lives of four people, including American diplomat John Christopher Stevens. Rice did not affirm that it was a terrorist attack when asked, stating instead that “This is a response to a hateful and offensive video that was widely disseminated throughout the Arab and Muslim world,” and she continued, “This is a spontaneous reaction to a video.” Her race to become secretary of state (instead of Hillary Clinton) was put down, although Obama very generously appointed her national security adviser.

In addition to her responsibilities as national security adviser, Rice’s role is important for another reason: she is part of Obama’s inner circle. Alongside Rice is Denis McDonough, White House chief of staff and former deputy national security adviser. There are other people Obama trusts blindly and who he always listens to before making an important decision. Among these is 58-year-old Valerie Jarrett, a family friend (she hired Michelle for a job at a law firm*). Anita Dunn, former White House communications director, once said about Michelle, “Her role since she has been at the White House is one of the broadest and most expansive roles that I think has ever existed in the West Wing [where the president’s offices are located].” Jarrett’s official position is assistant to the president for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs. Actually, Jarrett is among the advisers with which Obama consults the most. Unfortunately for Hagel, he was not part of Obama’s close inner circle of advisers. Therefore, this ending was inevitable given that Hagel was no longer in line with Obama and during meetings he preferred not to take the floor, limiting himself to face to face confrontations with Obama.

It seems that even relations are not that good between Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, who is accused of being all talk and no action (Kerry struggled in his negotiations with Iran about their nuclear program and his mediation efforts between Palestine and Israel failed to yield any results). He could also resign. If he hangs on, it is only because he is good friends with Obama.

Disagreements between the president and his staff are not something new. Nixon got along well with Kissinger, but he kept Secretary of State William Rogers at a distance and it is clear that he did not trust him. Nixon excluded him from his historical trip to China in 1972.

Let’s get back to the new leader of the Pentagon. Ashton Carter, as Italian journalist Christian Rocca rightfully tweeted, is anything but a pacifist given that in 2006 he advised Bush to carry out a pre-emptive attack on North Korea. Will Obama follow Bush’s doctrine in his last two years in power?

*Editor’s note: The job Valerie Jarrett hired Michelle Obama for was in fact in the mayor’s office, not at a law firm, as the original article claims.