Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain has a warning for defense secretary nominee Dr. Ashton Carter: Be prepared for "incessant micromanagement" from the White House.
“I hope that Dr. Carter fully understands that, as previous secretaries of defense have strongly attested, he will likely have limited influence over the tight circle around the president who apparently control the entire strategic decision-making process,” said McCain in a Friday statement,
reports The Washington Examiner.
Carter, if approved, will replace outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was pushed out of office allegedly for disagreeing with the White House's management of policy issues, including dealing with the Islamic State and the pending closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.
Hagel is not the only defense secretary who has faced micromanagement from President Barack Obama's administration, The Examiner reports, as his predecessors, Bill Gates and Leon Panetta, also said they were not given the freedom they needed to do their jobs.
McCain said that Carter's confirmation will be much tougher on the Obama administration than it will be on Carter personally.
"I look forward to Dr. Carter's confirmation hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee next year, which will provide a valuable opportunity to fully ventilate all of the issues around this administration's feckless foreign policy, and its grave consequences for safety and security," McCain commented.
Carter, whose nomination was announced on Friday, is expected to easily get through confirmation, which will begin after the first of the year with the Republican-controlled Senate conducting the process.
McCain said Carter, a former deputy defense secretary, is “highly competent” and “experienced," and Democrats also praised the nominee, who is a former Rhodes Scholar who holds a doctorate in physics.
“Dr. Carter understands the threats that confront our country and I believe his experience at the Pentagon will make him an effective leader for our military,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Obama, while announcing his pick on Friday, said the nation's armed forces have to be more lean, a reference for his plans to shrink back the military to pre-World War II levels,
reports The Washington Free Beacon.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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