Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Barack Obama was the first African-American president of the United States. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
Ashton B. Carter, Defense Secretary Under Obama, Dies at 68
nytimes.comAshton B. Carter, an academic physicist who later climbed the leadership ranks at the Pentagon, culminating in two years as secretary of defense under President Barack Obama, a position he used to further open the military to women and transgender service members, died on Monday in Boston.
He was 68. The cause was a heart attack, his family said in a statement. Dr. Carter was widely regarded for his prowess in military technology and policy.
After teaching at Harvard and directing its John F. Kennedy School of Government, he joined the Clinton administration in 1993 as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy.
In that position, he directed efforts to assist post-Soviet states in securing their stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Later, in the first Obama administration, he served as deputy secretary of defense under Chuck Hagel.
