Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter is stepping down from his post as the Pentagon’s second-highest civilian official. Carter had served at the Defense Department as the chief of acquisition technology and logistics at the onset of the Obama administration before assuming his present job, will leave office Dec. 4. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel thanked Carter for his service, saying, "He possesses an unparalleled knowledge of every facet of America’s defense enterprise, having worked directly and indirectly for eleven secretaries of defense over the course of his storied career."
