via the NYTIMES

"The Senate on Thursday confirmed Ashton B. Carter to be the next defense secretary, installing a new Pentagon chief as the United States increases military action against the Islamic State.

Mr. Carter, a former deputy defense secretary who is President Obama’s choice to replace Chuck Hagel, was approved by a vote of 93 to 5, a striking scene of accord as tensions mount over the wait to confirm Loretta E. Lynch as the next attorney general. Five Republicans opposed Mr. Carter’s confirmation".

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/us/ashton-carter-senate-defense-secretary.html?_r=0

911blogger readers and researcher's will recognize Mr. Carters' name from the Catastrophic Terrorism: Tackling the New Danger paper he co -authored with John Deutch and Phillip Zelikow
Foreign Affairs,in
November / December 1998

“Long part of the Hollywood and Tom Clancy repertory of nightmarish scenarios, catastrophic terrorism has moved from far-fetched horror to a contingency that could happen next month. Although the United States still takes conventional terrorism seriously… it is not yet prepared for the new threat of catastrophic terrorism.” They predict the consequences of such an event: “An act of catastrophic terrorism that killed thousands or tens of thousands of people and/or disrupted the necessities of life for hundreds of thousands, or even millions, would be a watershed event in America’s history. It could involve loss of life and property unprecedented for peacetime and undermine Americans’ fundamental sense of security within their own borders in a manner akin to the 1949 Soviet atomic bomb test, or perhaps even worse. Constitutional liberties would be challenged as the United States sought to protect itself from further attacks by pressing against allowable limits in surveillance of citizens, detention of suspects, and the use of deadly force. More violence would follow, either as other terrorists seek to imitate this great ‘success’ or as the United States strikes out at those considered responsible. Like Pearl Harbor, such an event would divide our past and future into a ‘before’ and ‘after.’” [CARTER, DEUTCH, AND ZELIKOW, 10/1998; FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 11/1998; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. XI-XIV]

http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=catastrophic_terrorism_study_group_1