North Korea and Iran. In response to increased tension in Ukraine, Carter considered deployment of ground-launched cruise missiles in Europe that could pre-emptively destroy Russian weapons. Military involvement in presidential elections In January 2021, Carter, alongside all of the other living former secretaries of defense, published a Washington Post op-ed piece opposing President Donald Trump's summons for military involvement in overturning the 2020 election results, and urging for a peaceful transition of power. Personal life Carter was married to Stephanie DeLeeuw Carter. He had been previously married to the eighth president of Bates College, Clayton Spencer, with whom he had two children, Ava and Will. Carter died from a heart attack at his home in Boston on October 24, 2022, at age 68. Awards Carter received the Ten Outstanding Young Americans award from the United States Junior Chamber in 1987. For his service to national security, Carter was awarded the DOD's highest civilian medal, the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, five times. For critical liaison efforts with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the geographic combatant commanders, he was awarded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 2013 and the Defense Intelligence Medal for his contributions to intelligence. Works In addition to authoring numerous articles, scientific publications, government studies, and Congressional testimonies, Carter co-edited and co-authored 11 books: MX Missile Basing (1981) Ballistic Missile Defense (1984) Directed Energy Missile Defense in Space (1984) Managing Nuclear Operations (1987) Soviet Nuclear Fission: Control of the Nuclear Arsenal in a Disintegrating Soviet Union (1991) References External links Preventive Defense Project Ashton B. Carter expert profile at the Belfer Center of Harvard University Collected columns at Foreign Affairs magazine Department of Defense biography |- |- |- |- 1954 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American physicists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American physicists 21st-century American politicians Alumni of St John's College, Oxford American Rhodes Scholars American chief operating officers American male non-fiction writers Arms control people Atlantic Council Clinton administration personnel Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Physical Society Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun Harvard Kennedy School faculty Massachusetts Democrats Mitre Corporation people Obama administration cabinet members Obama administration personnel People from Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania United States Assistant