US Senate confirms Carter as new defense sectary

Ashton Carter, a hard-charging intellectual known for blunt talk, was confirmed as US defense secretary Thursday, and he could soon find himself at odds with a White House that clashed with previous Pentagon chiefs.

The Senate -- by a vote of 93 to five -- overwhelmingly approved Carter, an accomplished defense technocrat with degrees in Medieval history and theoretical physics.

But at his confirmation hearing last week, Carter signaled an independent streak, venturing beyond the White House's stated policy on Ukraine and promising a fresh look at troop withdrawal plans in Afghanistan.

His comments provoked a quick response from a White House. Spokesman Josh Earnest said any decision on arming Ukraine's army or other issues would be up to the "commander-in-chief" and not Carter.

Carter has gained a reputation as a bona-fide expert on hi-tech weapons and defense budgets, portraying himself as a reformer determined to shake up the Pentagon's vast bureaucracy.

But much of his time will be taken up with a new war against extremists in the Middle East, with the United States leading an open-ended bombing campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. He also will have to contend with upheaval in Yemen, Iran's nuclear ambitions, a resurgent Russia that has rattled Eastern European allies, and an expanding Chinese military that could jeopardize the US Navy's dominance in the Pacific.

Carter will not be prepared to simply rubber stamp White House decisions, said Stephen Biddle, a professor at George Washington University who befriended Carter while at Harvard.

"I'm sure he'll want to be an architect and not just a carpenter," Biddle said.