WASHINGTON \u2014 As chief weapons buyer for the Pentagon, and later its No. 2 officer, Ashton Carter regularly made time to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Especially if the subject was protecting troops in combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whip smart and loquacious, Carter would delve into the nuts and bolts of the keeping soldiers and Marines safe from harm, particularly from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Attention from his lofty perch sent a message: After years of dithering, nothing would get higher priority at the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That included the programs costing hundreds of billions like the F-35 fighter or lofty plans that never got off the drawing board, such as the billions wasted on the Army’s Future Combat System, a fleet of vehicles killed by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates because it didn’t offer adequate protection from IEDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Instead, Carter focused on balloons with cameras to stare at road insurgents seeded with bombs. Or on the Labrador retrievers he visited during their training for deployment with troops walking dangerous foot patrols in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I never knew I’d be so interested in dogs,” Carter told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
White House officials said Tuesday that Carter is a “leading candidate” to be named Defense secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tellingly, Carter’s military adviser was then-Army colonel Ron Lewis. A spit-and-polish officer with a firm handshake and direct manner, Lewis had spent the better part of his post-9\/11 career commanding helicopter attack pilots in some of the hairiest parts of Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
No doubt Lewis’ experience informed Carter’s decision to accelerate the program Gates had put in motion: rushing Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles to troops patrolling paved highways in Iraq and dirt roads in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carter, with degrees in physics and medieval history from Yale and a doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford, also demanded data on their effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2012, he released data to USA TODAY on the effectiveness of MRAPs in IED attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You are between nine and 14 times less likely to be killed if you were in an MRAP than if you were in a Humvee,” Carter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expect Carter to take the same troops-first approach as the next Defense secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n