Lame-duck SecDef

Upon confirmation, Ash Carter will bring significant experience to the position of United States Secretary of Defense. He served as an assistant secretary of defense for three years, an undersecretary for defense for two year, and as deputy secretary of defense under both Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel. Carter has also become rather popular within the military and among congressional leadership.

Regardless of his experience and popularity, it will remain to be seen whether or not Carter is able to significantly influence White House policy during the last years of the Obama administration.

Unless the president and the rest of the executive branch have taken Gates's, Panetta's, and Hagel's well-documented frustrations to heart, it is highly unlikely that Carter will have much more leeway than his predecessors. Obama's presidency is coming to an end in 2017 and Carter's proficiency in nuclear weapons and arms control is unlikely to transfer towards the threat of ISIL. Due to those limiting factors, Carter will most likely manage Obama's policies until the conclusion of his presidency, rather than developing unique strategies before the next administration takes over. The same limiting factors could also have had an impact on Michele Flournoy's decision to remove herself from contention.