This is a fascinating choice...

[Bread and Circus]

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/02/harvard_expert.html

Harvard expert nominated for key Pentagon post

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- President Obama late this afternoon nominated Harvard professor Ashton B. Carter, a leading authority on arms control, to take on a surprising new role, according to top administration officials -- as the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer.

The choice of Carter to run the office that oversees hundreds of billions of dollars for new weapons and research -- and the focus of intense lobbying by defense firms, retired generals, and members of Congress -- has been rumored for weeks. And word of his pending nomination has already sparked concern within the defense industry and some of the Pentagon bureaucracy.

But that may be exactly what Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates want.

Unlike most of his predecessors selected to be under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, Carter has no professional ties to America's arms makers or manufacturing industry, nor has he spent his career in government procurement. Instead, from his perch at Harvard's Kennedy School, Carter has been criticizing the Pentagon for buying too many armaments it doesn't need, decrying what he calls a lack of discipline and "failure to take account of cost growth in weapons systems and defense services."

A trained scientist with a doctorate in theoretical physics and a degree in Medieval history, Carter's advocates say the long-time Harvard professor and national security specialist is being chosen because his combination of technical expertise and knowledge of defense strategy will be needed to make what Gates calls "difficult choices" about which weapons programs to invest in and which ones to terminate.

[AllentownJake]

1. This is the most awesome thing I read today.

[Parker CA]

2. Any fresh and untainted blood we can get into the Pentagon is a good thing.

Sounds like an interesting gentleman with some very good past criticism of the weapons buying habits of the past. Will look forward to more info on this.

[Aloha Spirit]

3. His background in reducing nuclear weapons is attractive

probably was to Obama too.

[BanzaiBonnie]

4. Did I tell you I love this president?

I keep saying it. My husband has heard me say it about a bajillion times. And I'm going to keep saying it. I'll never get tired of it.


Obama is the real deal.

[givemebackmycountry]

5. THIS will be interesting....

The first time the words "defense" and "cuts" enter the American Lexicon the Right Wingers will lose their mind.

They will accuse Obama of every chicken shit, soft on whatever crap they can scream or write about.
I can't wait.
I think America is sick of trillion dollar Aircraft carriers and 22 billion dollar fighter jets that we don't need.

[Frank Booth]

6. Why doesn't Obama appoint any progressives?1??

Oh, wait. Nevermind.

[FrenchieCat]

7. This IS Change!

Where are the 25 threads on this? I don't see them, and I know I wouldn't hide them!

[democracy1st]

8. K & R

[Undercurrent]

9. Happy dance!

But I gotta tell you folks, I'm not surprised. So far, our President has done things he wrote and talked about for a long time.

[eridani]

10. Excellent! n/t

[Beetwasher]

11. Trimming The Bloated Pentagon Budget and Spending On Useless Over-Priced Crap Can Save HUNDREDS OF

BILLIONS OF DOLLARS that can be better used elsewhere.

This is an AWESOME pick by Obama and I suspect there will be both hatchet and scalpel used on the Pentagon's disgustingly bloated budget, as well as SIGNIFICANT oversight (which has been absent for DECADES!!) on their spending.

[Beetwasher]

12. KICK!!!!! For The Obama Bashers!

n/t

[progressoid]

13. If he's able to take out even a fraction of the bloat in the Defense budget,

it would be a HUGE improvement.