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Ashton Carter's Previous Experience; Coverage of Announcement of Defense Secretary Nomination

Aired December 5, 2014 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Okay, Barbara, stand by because I'm going to take you live to the White House right now.

(voice-over): These are live pictures. There they are. Where President Obama will soon announce that Ashton Carter is his pick to replace Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense. Carter, who served as deputy secretary for both Hagel and Leon Panetta, was the chief weapons buyer for the Defense Department. And while he has no first hand military experience, he does have extensive background at the Pentagon. If confirmed, he would be President Obama's fourth defense secretary in six years. Of course we will bring you that announcement when it happens.

(on camera): First, let's get to our other big story this morning. We're going to talk about - - Okay, we're going to go to the White House now. I want to bring in my colleague Wolf Blitzer as we get ready for President Obama to make his big announcement. Good morning, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, thanks very much. The fourth Defense Secretary of the Obama administration, if Ashton Carter is confirmed by the United States Senate. All indications are, eventually will be confirmed. He'll have to go through the Republican Majority in the Senate Armed Services Committee, the new chairman will be John McCain and then he'll have to be confirmed by the entire 100 members Senate. But a bit of a surprise, we thought, Chuck Hagel would be coming to this announcement that the president is about to make over at the White House but we just turned from Barbara Starr that Chuck Hagel decided, it would be perhaps more appropriate for him not to attend this formal announcement. Jake Tapper is our CNN anchor. There's been a lot of awkwardness, Jake, as we look at what's going on. Right now in this transition from Chuck Hagel to Ash Carter.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and in fact, Wolf, as you know, though the White House and Secretary Hagel had agreed to say that it was a mutual decision, Secretary Hagel had insisted that the announcement come out when he wanted it to come out, not when the White House did, which was going to be later after they had settled on a pick. And it's also true that many of Hagel's defenders were upset at the anonymous quotes from senior administration officials insulting Secretary Hagel saying that he was not up to the job and besmirching his reputation. That is something that a lot of Hagel stalwarts were not happy about. So it's perhaps not surprising that the secretary has chosen not to attend this even, in which his replacement will be announced to the public, assuming, of course, he is confirmed to the Senate, Wolf.

BLITZER: And it is, Barbara Starr, a little bit awkward also. Chuck Hagel will remain the Defense Secretary until Ash Carter is confirmed by the Senate. That could take a few months, right?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, several weeks to say the least and in fact, the Secretary Hagel continuing with his duties even as we speak, he is scheduled in the coming hours to begin an overseas trip. CNN will be with him. Our own Jim Sciutto will be with him on that trip reporting on what Hagel is doing, so still he is working around the clock on the war on ISIS, on the Defense budget, on spending, on signing orders to deploy troops: all of this.

But these are all the things that are also going to confront Ash Carter when he comes to the Pentagon. And, you know, the White House had made the public claim that it was "time for a transition to new leadership." Essentially, many people will say the White House really want new leadership at the Pentagon? Does the president want new ideas? Does the NSC and Susan Rice, the national security advisor, do they want a Defense secretary to speak up and offer new ideas? If the president doesn't have any different policies, if the president doesn't have any desire to change policy and strategy in the war on ISIS, Ash Carter will be doing what so many Defense secretaries do, he will be, implementing what the president wants. Not making those big policy decisions himself.

BLITZER: We see some other top administration officials now walking into the room over there at the White House, John Brennan, you see him - you saw him a moment ago in the middle of your screen, the CIA Director Jack Lew just sitting down, the Treasury Secretary. See, Jane Harman, the former congresswoman with her back to us right now. And there's Valerie Jarrett standing up and Jeffrey Zaiontz (ph). So, there's a lot of top administration officials already in the room for this announcement by the president. This will be the fourth Defense Secretary, in this administration, if in fact, he's is confirmed. All indications are Ash Carter will be confirmed. Let's bring in Lieutenant General Retired Mark Hertling, a CNN military analyst. One of the problems that the earlier three Defense secretaries have had, whether it was Leon Panetta, it was Gates, and now it was Hagel as you know, general, is that there was so much alleged micromanagement of the Department of Defense coming in from the National Security Council over at the White House. You've heard the criticisms. Your reaction.

RET. LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN ANALYST: Well, Mr. Carter is a kind of, the kind of guy that can lead up. He's very personable, he's very charismatic, he's well liked within the Pentagon. He certainly knows the Pentagon. He's been there on three different tours and three different positions working under three different secretaries of Defenses. So I think he's the kind of guy that can push some perhaps new idea as part of the national security team to the president, and he's going to be listened to. Because he knows not only the working of the Pentagon, but he's got a whole lot of knowledge of not only Europe, but the Middle East and Asia. So, I think this is a very good pic and a great move to go forward, Wolf.

BLITZER: And Jake, what do you make of that all that sort of back- stabbing, if you will, the criticisms Bob Gates in his memoir. He wrote about it, Leon Panetta in his memoir, he wrote about it. I'm sure Hagel if he writes a memoir he'll write about it as well. The micromanagement, the criticism that they all leveled at White House aides, many of them a whole lot younger, sort of trying to dominate what these guys wanted to do?

TAPPER: Well, it's interesting, whether you consider it micromanagement, it's certainly aggressive management, specifically by the White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and the National Security Advisor Dr. Susan Rice. That is a criticism and a complaint that you've heard from former Defense secretaries Gates and Panetta very vocally. And as you know, we'll hear what Hagel has to say when he's freed from the constraints of being a current administration official. I certainly think that it is something that Ash Carter should he be confirmed, will face a challenge, he is said to have an excellent reputation, I'm sorry, an excellent relationship with the White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, and he's also somebody that doesn't come to the job as a bold-faced name, the way that Gates, Panetta and Hagel did. Ash Carter is somebody not with a national reputation. He has an excellent reputation as a technocrat, as a Defense intellectual, if you will. He is somebody that knows the Pentagon very well having served as deputy secretary of Defense. But he's not somebody that necessarily might, even though he is said to have a very healthy sense of ego and confidence, and will push back, he's not somebody that necessarily has the standing to get into a fight with the White House, if you will. He is not somebody that already comes to the job with the kind of reputation that his three predecessors have, Wolf.

BLITZER: Excellent point. Barbara Starr, you've spent a lot of time looking into Ash Carter's background. And he is a physicist by training: he served as an assistant defense secretary. He served as a Deputy Secretary. I think that he was confirmed by the Senate unanimously both times, so he does have a pretty good reputation, but you've also look at some controversial statements he's made, articles he's written, issues where he's made some controversial proposals, including one going back several years when he actually what - recommended the U.S. consider airstrikes against North Korea's nuclear facilities, is that right?

STARR: Well, he was considered - he was talking back in 2006 timeframe about possibly striking North Korea's long-range missile program, because at that time, the North Koreans were very aggressive on it. They were beginning to develop the nuclear weapons that would lead to a warhead, and a long-range missile then would give them the capability to strike against the United States. Some people call that a hawkish attitude. I have to say, I think the Clinton administration, the two Bushes administrations, President Obama, all have had to basically behind the scenes consider the same issue when it comes to North Korea. At what point? Would a Defense Secretary then recommend striking North Korea, still being out of the administration at the time, he could be very blunt about it. Nuclear weapons arms control what America's adversaries are up to, it's something that Ash Carter knows very well.

I've covered him since he first came to the Pentagon. You know, he chats with reporters in the hallway. We'll see if he continues to do that. He's very much someone who likes to explain his thinking, explain what he's up to and what his thoughts are. I think one of the things he will confront here that could put him at loggerheads with Congress very quickly, a Republican Congress, is this issue of the budget cuts. Carter has deep experience in knowing the weapons, what is needed, what is not.

What these various huge spending programs really accomplish. The ships, the aircraft, the armored vehicles. He's going to have to come in and try like every Defense Secretary to cut the budget. Congress talks about it as everyone on this panel knows but whether Congress really agrees to cut the budget, because it means jobs in their district. They always push back on the Defense Secretary. So I think he has two big challenges right off the bat, ISIS, the war on ISIS, the budget cutting, but every Defense Secretary comes into office, not knowing what may be around the corner. There may be some surprise a year ago, did we talk about ISIS? 9-11? So, he's going to have to be prepared for everything on his plate and those unpleasant surprises.

BLITZER: And the men and women of the United States military, General Hertling, they see what's going on at the leadership. That the Secretary of Defense, he'll be the fourth Secretary of Defense if confirmed by the Senate, and as I said, all expectations are, he eventually will be confirmed by the United States Senate. But how does that play for the top military, the uniform military command to see these kinds of changes from a Bob Gates to a Leon Panetta to a Chuck Hagel, now to an Ash Carter, all within the span now of six years?

HERTLING: Well, it's part of the terrain of Washington, Wolf, as you well know, and I think the senior military leaders have a great deal of confidence in Ash Carter. He is - he's - understands them, I mean personalities and relationships matter in Washington, and that's another plus that I think Mr. Carter has on his side. Is that he knows not only all the service chiefs in the Pentagon, but he has a really good feel and a good relationship with most of the combat and commanders around the world. That's critically important. Again, I keep going back to the fact that he knows the Pentagon. You know, there's been a lot of remarks about the fact that he's a physicist. Yes, he is, but he also has a doctorate in medieval history. So this is the kind of guy that questions, that probes, that looks into things. He's quickly going to become one of the smarter guys in the room when the National Security Team meets, and - but he's also as Barbara just said, very personable as he walks the hallway. I've met him a couple of times. He certainly wouldn't remember me, I was a young two-star general at the time. But he's the kind of guy that can reach out his hand, shake hands and people know that he's got a good feel for what they're trying to say, he does explain himself and I think that's important in today's environment because he's not only going to be faced with ISIL and sequestration and additional budget cuts, but in my view this is the toughest world we faced in a very long time. He's going to have all kinds of critical requirements all over the globe, and then he's got to get out and speak his mind. As soon as he meets the soldiers and the sailors and the Marines and airmen out there, they're going to like him. Because I think most of the commanders do already. AC: All right, we are going to take a quick break. We're waiting for

the president of the United States, the Defense Secretary nominee Ash Carter, they're about to walk into the - this room at the White House. You see some top aides there sitting in the front row. Our special coverage continues, in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're waiting for the president of the United States to make the official announcement. Momentarily, he'll walk in with the Defense Secretary nominee Ash Carter. He'll make a presentation, explain why he decided Ash Carter would be an excellent successor to Chuck Hagel. Chuck Hagel being effectively forced out as the Defense Secretary, the third Defense Secretary in the Obama administration. As we await the president, let's get some more analysis.

Jake Tapper, you've done some studying into Ash Carter's background. We know he was assistant Defense Secretary during the Bill Clinton administration, a deputy Defense Secretary during the Obama administration, the number two man over at the Department of Defense. So, what else do we need to know?

TAPPER: Well, it's important for people to realize that Carter, his challenge will be more within the political realm of Washington, D.C. And the Pentagon and Capitol Hill and the White House than, for instance, it will be about fighting ISIS. CENTCOM is in charge of fighting ISIS and they are doing about as much as they can do without any real legitimate troops on the ground fighting that group in Syria and Iraq as I think everyone agrees, would need to be done for that group to be defeated.

The challenges that Ash Carter faces will be to represent the Joint Chiefs of Staff who are - I wouldn't say they're in open revolt, but they're close to going public with their concerns as I'm sure Barbara can attest about the sequester. That is the forced budget cuts that came in that budget deal a couple of years ago. And the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretaries of the Army, Navy, et cetera, are very frustrated. Not only the freeze on their budget, but the fact that they have so little flexibility to do what they want to do. For instance, if they would want to close a base and take that money and use it for troop readiness. They do not have the freedom to do that. It's kind of wonky, but that's the kind of challenge that Ash Carter faces. He is going to be fighting those battles, fighting battles about trying to eliminate weapons systems that people on Capitol Hill do not want to eliminate as somebody who bought weapons for the Pentagon. He'll be uniquely qualified to wage those battles well.

So that kind of in-fighting, that's really what Ash Carter is going to be spending much of his time doing and not so much the stuff that we cover and that the American people are really interested in in terms of the actual kinetic actions. The actual waging of war, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yeah, he certainly does know the inner workings of the Department of Defense on all of those levels. Once again, we're waiting for the president to walk in with Ash Carter and make the official announcement. Barbara, you brought the story here on CNN just a little while ago that the current Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, he was supposed to be attending this event today, but all of a sudden, you learn that he decided it might be more appropriate for him to stay away.

STARR: Yeah, you know, they put out the statement saying that he decided to skip it, that it would be more appropriate, but as we've talked about here, let's be realistic, there is a lot of drama behind the scenes about Hagel's departure. I mean I think we can recall even when Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld was essentially fired by President George H.W. Bush - W. Bush, rather, I'm sorry, his predecessor and he appeared together at the White House, Rumsfeld and Gates. So, there's a long tradition of the outgoing and incoming appearing together even if it's a very awkward situation it shows a smooth peaceful transition to everyone, especially to the troops.

That said, I think it will all pass very quickly. Carter will very quickly assemble a transition team. He'll probably to some extent out of the Pentagon during the coming weeks in a very small private office on that transition, and be ready to move in essentially, the minute he's confirmed by the Senate.

But I want to go back. You know, we are all speculating to a sense what his challenges will be, what he's going to have to deal with. Remember, when Chuck Hagel went through confirmation, nobody talked about ISIS. When Don Rumsfeld went through confirmation, nobody talked really about al Qaeda, nobody could even fathom 9/11, going way back when Dick Cheney went through confirmation as Defense Secretary, nobody really talked, nobody speculated, nobody thought Saddam Hussein would invade Kuwait. The mark of a Defense Secretary is not just what they do day to day, but in a crisis, how they react, how they deal with the troops, how they command and most importantly, the advice they give a president and if that advice is listened to. So Ash Carter will be keeping, I guarantee you, an eye on everything from North Korea to Iran. Those surprises, those unpleasant surprises are always out there. The concern about Homeland Security, the concern about a potential lone wolf attack in this country and what that may mean for action overseas, what the troops are always watching for, what military families are always watching for, what will a Defense secretary do, recommend, or say that could put them back on deployment, back in harm's way. It's how he reacts to that if it comes that will be so critical, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Barbara, stand by. Jake, this is the Roosevelt room in the West Wing of the White House where the president will be making this announcement. It's a relatively small room. It's not the East Room in the White House. It's a modest room. You see some top officials there in the front row. You see Valerie Jarrett, her back to us. Carl Levin, the current chairman of the Senate Arms Services Committee, he is sitting in the front row. I didn't see John McCain who is going to be the next chairman of the Senate Arms Services Committee. I don't even know if it would be appropriate for him to be at this announcement. He's going to be the one who's going to be leading the confirmation hearings of the incoming -- the nominee, the new Defense secretary. But it's a relatively modest little ceremony, isn't it? TAPPER: It's symbolic, I think of the man that they are picking. Not

that he's not a man of great capabilities, but he is for the first time somebody that President Obama is picking, who is not a bold-faced name. The Bob Gates pick, asking Gates to stay on as Defense secretary was an interesting thing for President Obama to do, then he asked his CIA director Leon Panetta to switch jobs, become secretary of Defense. Then he asked a Vietnam War veteran and Republican Chuck Hagel to be his secretary of Defense.

I remember before the Hagel pick was known I was talking with an Obama loyalist and we talked about the fact that he seemed to like to pick these bold-faced names, these political celebrities for these jobs and now, of course, he's going with somebody whose name is not necessarily known outside of Washington, D.C., outside of the halls of academia at Stanford, I suppose. And that's Ash Carter, somebody who's known for the fact that he gets along with the people in that room, in the Roosevelt room. He knows them, he has worked with them for years as deputy secretary of Defense. Some of them he has relationships with going back to the Clinton administration. So I think that room in many ways symbolizes the pick that President Obama is making here, Wolf.

BLITZER: Looks like members of the family are now walking in. They'll be obviously joined by the president momentarily, the president will be walking in with Ash Carter. Normally the president will say a few words, introducing the nominee, explaining some of the background, some of his decision making, then a nominee will say a few words himself and then usually the nominee will go silent, getting ready for the confirmation hearings, which will come up in the new Republican majority in the United States Senate. Next year, there will be at least 53 and if Mary Landrieu loses in her runoff election tomorrow, 54 Republicans. The new Republican majority in the United States Senate and there will be a new chairman - a new chairman in the -- of the Arms Services Committee who will be watching all of this go on. And we don't know exactly how Ash Carter's relationship with John McCain is going to be. But very quickly, Jake, this is - these hearings, it was unanimously confirmed for the earlier jobs, but it's obviously going to be a lot more grueling right now given the differences over the war on ISIS.

TAPPER: That's true. Although I do suspect that the confirmation hearings will follow what we saw from Senator John McCain who will be the chair of the Senate Arms Services Committee in the new Senate beginning in 2015, and that is there will be a lot of affirmation of Ashton Carter's capabilities and a lot of criticism of the Obama administration. John McCain when our own Barbara Starr and then other reporters reported that Ashton Carter was likely to be the pick, many Republicans on Capitol Hill, senators, were asked about the pick and they said positive things although they also said that it's going to be tough for somebody like Carter to deal with the micromanaging coming from the White House and then they went into that line of criticism following that road to Syria and other areas of disagreement.

So, I do think that it is very, very likely based on what I heard from Senate Republicans, that Carter will be confirmed based on what we know right now. But I also think that the Obama administration will be criticized a great deal in those hearings.

TAPPER: And we're going to be seeing the president right now. He's going to be walking into the Roosevelt room. This is an historic room at the White House. Relatively small room as I said. There are guests there, top administration officials sitting upfront, Ash Carter's family is up there getting ready for the president and also in the front row Carl Levin, the outgoing Senate Arms Services Committee chairman. He's retiring from the United States Senate, but he's there right now. So here's the president and Ash Carter and the vice president.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good morning, everybody. Please have a seat. It is wonderful to be able to announce not the creation, but at least the filling of one new job. But before we do, I wanted to make a -- a somewhat broader statement about the economy, and Ash is willing to indulge me.

Last month, America's businesses created more than 300,000 jobs. This keeps a pace so far this year that we have not seen since the 1990s. So far this year, over the first 11 months of 2014, our economy has created 2.65 million jobs. That's more than in any entire year since the 1990s. Our businesses have now created 10.9 million jobs over the past 57 months in a row. And that's the longest streak of private sector job growth on record.

We also know that the pickup and the pace of job growth this year has been in industries with higher wages. And overall, wages are rising, a very welcome sign for millions of Americans.

So we've got an opportunity to keep up this progress if Congress is willing to keep our government open, avoid self-inflicted wounds, and work together to invest in the things that support faster job growth in high-paying jobs. That means exports, infrastructure, streamlining our tax code, immigration reform, giving minimum wage workers a raise.

It's been a long road to recovery from the worst economic crisis in generations, and we still have a lot more work to do to make sure that hard-working Americans' wages are growing faster. But the United States continues to outpace most of the world. Over the last four years, we've put more people back to work than Europe, Japan and all other industrialized advanced countries combined. And we're gonna keep at it until every single American who is willing and able to work can find not just any job, but a job that pays a decent wage and allows them to support their families.

But it's worth us every once in a while reflecting on the fact that the American economy is making real progress. And if we can continue in this trajectory, if we can continue to grow robustly and if we make sure that those companies who are seeing profits, they're probably higher than any time in the last 60 years, that they're also making sure that their workers are sharing in that growth, then, you know, we can get a virtuous cycle that's really gonna make a difference and be a critical component of strengthening our national security, because national security starts with a strong economy here at home. Now, I know that some people think that I announced Cabinet positions on fake Twitter accounts. This is not the case.

(LAUGHTER)

A year ago, when Ash Carter completed his tenure as deputy secretary of defense, Secretary Hagel took to the podium at Ash's farewell ceremony and looked out at the audience of both civilian and military leaders, and he said, "I've known Ash Carter for many years. All of us here today have benefited from Ash's hard work, his friendship, from his inspiration and from his leadership."

And Chuck then went on to express his gratitude to his partner for what Ash has done for this country and will continue to do in many ways. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Today, I'm pleased to announce my nominee to be our next secretary of defense, Mr. Ash Carter.

Now, 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.

As a top member of our Pentagon team for the first five years of my presidency, including his two years as deputy secretary, he was at the table in the situation room.

He was by my side navigating complex security challenges that we were confronting. I relied on his expertise, and I relied on his judgment.

I think it's fair to say that, Ash, in your one-year attempt at retirement from public service, you failed miserably.

(LAUGHTER)

But I am deeply grateful that you're willing to go back at it.

Yeah, Ash, as some of you know, brings a unique blend of strategic perspective and technical know-how.

As a student of history, he understands the United States -- and I'm quoting him now -- "is the single most provider of security in the world," and he played a key role in devising our defense strategy to advance that security.

He's also a physicist, which means that he's one of the few people who actually understand how many of our defense systems work...

(LAUGHTER)

... and that has also allowed him to serve with extraordinary breadth and also depth in a whole range of work that we've had to do.

In one way or another, Ash has served under 11 secretaries of defense, he's an innovator who helped create the program that has dismantled weapons of mass destruction around the world and reduced the threat of nuclear terrorism, he's a reformer who's never been afraid to cancel old or inefficient weapons programs, he knows the Department of Defense inside and out, all of which means that on day one, he's going to hit the ground running.