MIT-Oxford physicist to tango with IIT engineer in US-India defense ties

Chidanand Rajghatta 

Dec 4, 2014

When the defence chiefs of India and the United States meet next, it could well be an IIT engineer engaging an Oxford-MIT physicist.

WASHINGTON: When the defence chiefs of India and the United States meet next, it could well be an IIT engineer engaging an Oxford-MIT physicist. 

President Barack Obama intends to nominate former Pentagon #2 Ashton Carter as the new US Defense Secretary to replace Chuck Hagel, it was widely reported on Tuesday, amid broad acclaim in Washington DC and relief in New Delhi. The veteran defense maven, a Rhodes scholar with a Ph.D in theoretical physics, is highly respected in Washington, and more pertinently for India, has been hands-on in accelerating U.S-India defense cooperation. 

In his previous avatar as Pentagon deputy secretary of defense, Carter headed a task force to expedite sale of sensitive military equipment to India. He and India's then National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon helmed the India-US Defense Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) envisaging technology transfer and co-production and co-development of defense equipment, an enterprise that has made substantial progress but is still incomplete. 

A strong votary of US-India military ties who believes the two countries are "destined to be strategic partners," he will now have an IIT-engineer in India's new defense minister Manohar Panikkar to pick up the threads. Carter is also part of the team behind the United States' Asia pivot. 

The White House has not officially confirmed the nomination pending a vetting process, but press secretary Josh Earnest suggested it was a formality. "He is somebody who deserves and has demonstrated strong bipartisan support for his previous service in government," Earnest said. "He has a detailed understanding of the way the Department of Defence works." 

Carter was once called an "uber-wonk" by a top American general, but beneath his academic profile, he is known to take tough positions. Once, when he was out of government, he called for a surgical strike on North Korea's missile program, saying, "For the US, the risk of inaction will prove far greater." As it turned out, North Korea subsequently became nuclear-armed in addition to its missile capability. He is also said to be tough on Iran. 

The responsibility of office makes people more circumspect but one analyst warned: "His reputation is hawkish. So watch out. Expect more war. Not less."