Obama to Nominate Ashton Carter as US Defense Secretary

• The two names on top of President Obama’s short list [AP] to succeed Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary were former Defense Undersecretary Ashton Carter and current Undersecretary Bob Work. Carter was clearly interested in the job when Hagel was selected instead in January 2013, and ends up being the choice announced by CNN and Bloomberg this morning. However by mid-afternoon this still hadn’t been officially confirmed. If Ash Carter is indeed Obama’s nominee, his senatorial confirmation is unlikely to be an issue.

• Meanwhile Work decries [WaPo] Congress’ inability to pass bills on time and its unwillingness to concede that another round of base consolidation has to happen.

• The chairmen of the US House and Senate Armed Services Committee seem to have reached an agreement on the FY15 defense authorization bill, and were expected to make a joint statement today at noon (ET). Meanwhile appropriations look likely [The Hill] to again be handled through an omnibus bill.