Ash Carter, a former U.S. defense secretary during Barack Obama's administration from 2015 to 2017, died on Monday evening after a sudden cardiac event at the age of 68, his family said in a statement on Tuesday.
Carter, who served during the final two years of the Obama administration, helped oversee the launch of a military strategy that would drive back the Islamic State military group in Syria and Iraq, and ultimately defeat the organization.
“While he was known for his keen understanding of military technology, nuclear weapons, and international affairs, Secretary Carter loved nothing more than spending time with the troops, making frequent trips to Iraq and Afghanistan to visit U.S forces with his wife Stephanie,” they said.
Carter’s tenure as defense secretary is perhaps most remembered for his order to open to women all military jobs, including combat assignments. The decision came after years of study by military leaders and strong opposition from conservative groups.
A few months later, Carter made another announcement: the military will lift its prohibition on transgender service members. Later, when President Donald Trump assumed office, he overruled the decision; but, after President Joe Biden was elected, he did so once more.
Carter led innovation initiatives and outreach to the commercial IT sector, including founding the Defense Innovation Unit. Carter was the Pentagon's procurement chief before becoming deputy defence secretary.
During the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he directed the quick development and deployment of mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, or MRAPs, to shield troops from roadside explosives.
At his swearing-in ceremony in 2015, Carter made fun of the Pentagon's cumbersome weapons development process by saying that it needed to "think outside this five-sided box." Later, in order to help the acquisition personnel make more informed and cost-effective purchases, he created the department's "Better Buying Power" campaign.
The high-level strategy Carter created to streamline supplies to troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria is the foundation for the Pentagon's current rush of military aid to Ukraine.
Additionally, the Senior Integration Group-Ukraine mimicked the Warfighter Senior Integration Group, which Carter established in the midst of the war on terror to swiftly provide troops with bomb-resistant underwear, observation aerostats, and working dogs.
In a May interview with Defense News, Ellen Lord, a former undersecretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment, stated, "It goes back to Ash Carter."
Carter has served as the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs' director at Harvard's Kennedy School since 2017. The hundreds of pupils he taught with the expectation that they would contribute to a more peaceful and secure world, according to family members, would be Carter's "most profound legacy."
