President Barack Obama said his White House meeting today with Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who took the oath of office this morning, covered a range of security issues from violent extremism to Ukraine to maintaining the military.
“I just had an opportunity to meet for the first time in his official capacity with my new secretary of defense, Ash Carter, who talked about a wide range of security challenges and opportunities that we face around the world -- everything from making sure that we are dismantling [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant], and not only stabilizing the situation in Iraq but addressing the foreign fighter issue and countering the narrative of violent extremism that has been turbocharged through the Internet,” the president told reporters.
“We had a chance to talk about the situation throughout Ukraine,” Obama continued. “We also had an opportunity to talk about how we maintain the strongest and most effective military in the world and how we keep faith with our outstanding men and women in uniform.”
The commander in chief said he could not be more confident that Carter will do an outstanding job as secretary of defense.
“And he is hitting the ground running, having already spent a lot of time in this administration and in the Pentagon,” the president noted.
“So I want to thank the Senate for confirming him almost unanimously,” Obama said. “And I look forward to working with him in the years to come. I think America will be well served by Mr. Ash Carter.”