Defense nominee Carter ‘inclined’ to provide U.S. arms to Ukraine

By Washington Post

Ashton B. Carter, President Obama’s choice to become his fourth secretary of defense, said Wednesday that he was “very much inclined” to provide arms to Ukraine to fend off Russian-backed rebels, something the White House so far has resisted.

“We need to support the Ukrainians in defending themselves,” Carter said at his Senate confirmation hearing.

In response to a pointed question from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carter said he would first need to consult with U.S. military leaders and Ukrainian officials before making a specific recommendation about what kind of weapons Washington should send to Kiev. But he left no doubt that he supported the idea.

“I am inclined in the direction of providing them with arms, including . . .lethal arms,” he said.

The Obama administration has provided night-vision goggles, body armor and other supplies to the Ukrainian government but has drawn the line at funneling weapons out of fear that they would merely escalate the conflict with the rebels and provoke countermeasures from the Russian government.

Several U.S. military and civilian leaders have been pressing the White House to reconsider in recent weeks as the rebels have continued to make gains and Russian President Vladi­mir Putin has shown no sign of halting Moscow’s aggressive intervention in Ukraine.

Carter’s unvarnished support for arming Ukraine could help hasten a change in U.S. policy, something that a bipartisan group of lawmakers have said they would welcome.

Facing no significant opposition on Capitol Hill, Carter, a 60-year-old physicist and former No. 2 official at the Pentagon, is expected to win easy approval from the Senate to become the next secretary of defense. But lawmakers used Wednesday’s hearing to air a broad critique of the Obama administration’s foreign policies and to press Carter on whether he would favor any changes.

When Carter offered a carefully worded defense of the White House’s strategy for fighting the Islamic State, for example, McCain was dismissive. “Doesn’t sound like a strategy to me,” he said.

Even some Democratic lawmakers questioned the Obama administration’s overall approach to defeat Islamic State while containing Iranian ambitions in the region.

“Is that a coherent strategy?” asked Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the senior Democrat on the committee. Carter said it was.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) urged Carter to “not succumb to any pressure” from the White House to move quickly to empty the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Although Obama has pledged for years to close the prison, many in Congress have questioned his renewed effort to release longtime inmates, saying some of them could still pose a threat.

“I understand my responsibilities,” replied Carter, who as defense secretary would have to give final approval to any prisoner transfers. “As in everything else I do, I’ll play it absolutely straight.”

On Afghanistan, Carter said he backed Obama’s pledge to withdraw all U.S. troops from the war zone by the end of next year. But in a nod to criticism from some lawmakers that the timetable is too hasty, he said he’d be flexible.

“The president has a plan. I support that plan. At the same time, it’s a plan. And if I’m confirmed, and I ascertain as the years go by that we need to change that plan, I will recommend those changes to the president,” Carter said.

In his opening remarks, Carter said he believed defense spending is a mess and replete with waste — an assessment rarely shared by officials at the Pentagon.

“I cannot suggest support and stability for the defense budget without at the same time frankly noting that not every defense dollar is spent as well as it should be,” Carter said. “The taxpayer cannot comprehend it, let alone support the defense budget, when they read . . . of cost overruns, lack of accounting and accountability, needless overhead, and the like. This must stop.”

“Every company, state and city in the country has had to lean itself out in recent years, and it should be no different for the Pentagon,” he added.

The tone of Carter’s comments on the defense budget contrasts with the doom-laden warnings given last week before the same Senate committee by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They said the armed forces have suffered enough under a few years of relative austerity imposed by Congress and the White House and that the military would struggle to maintain its effectiveness if automatic spending caps are not lifted next year.

Carter pledged that he would be a straight shooter with Obama and would always give him “my most candid strategic advice,” a message intended to reassure lawmakers who have criticized the White House for ignoring the counsel of senior civilians and uniformed leaders at the Pentagon.

He also indicated that he would have little patience for micromanaging or improper political interference from above or below, another concern expressed by two former defense secretaries who served under Obama — Robert M. Gates and Leon E. Panetta.

“The law also prescribes the chain of command, and if I am confirmed as secretary of defense I will be a stickler for the chain of command,” Carter said.