President Barack Obama will announce his pick for Secretary of Defense on Friday morning , White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday afternoon during the daily White House briefing . Obama is slated to nominate Ashton Carter , former second in command at the Pentagon , as CNN has previously reported . RELATED : Meet Chuck Hagel 's expected replacement as Defense Secretary . Pending confirmation in the Senate , Carter will succeed outgoing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel , who announced his resignation last week . Hagel has said he will stay on board until a successor is confirmed . Carter , 60 , served as Deputy Defense Secretary under both Hagel and Obama 's first Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta . He 'd be the fourth secretary of defense of Obama 's six-year tenure including Robert Gates , a hold-over from President George W. Bush . Some consider Carter the last man standing for a job others have declined . Obama adviser Michele Flournoy was initially considered to be a frontrunner for the position after Hagel announced he 'd be leaving , leaving room for her to make history as the first woman to hold the post . But she quickly took her name out of the running in a letter to the Center for a New American Security , a think tank she co-founded in 2007 . Other potential replacements who took their names out of consideration include Senator Jack Reed ( D-R.I. ) and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson . RELATED : Was Hagel doomed from the start ? Carter , who has worked at the Pentagon for years but has largely remained outside the spotlight , is regarded as a top intellect on national security issues by those who work with him . His admirers include Gen. Martin Dempsey , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , who called him an `` uber-wonk '' at his farewell ceremony when Carter left the Defense Department in 2013 . From 2011 to 2013 , Carter worked as deputy secretary of defense , maintaining a portfolio that includes a $ 600 billion annual budget and over two million civilian and military personnel . He took up a job as an undersecretary in the Department of Defense shortly after Obama 's first inauguration . Earlier , Carter served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy under President Bill Clinton , emerging as an expert in nuclear weapons policy . And before his tenure in the public sector , he was a professor at Harvard University and worked as the director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard 's John F. Kennedy School . RELATED : McCain : Ashton Carter wo n't be heard at W.H .
The White House will announce its pick for Secretary of Defense Friday . President Obama is expected to nominate former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) The Senate will likely confirm Carter , hailed as an `` uber-wonk ''