Defense secretary wrests control of policy debates with stellar first week

New Defense Secretary Ash Carter goes to Capitol Hill to discuss the Pentagon’s budget request Tuesday and Wednesday in his first hearings since being confirmed as defense secretary last month.

He goes in with a stronger hand than any new secretary in memory.

On Feb. 20, after just three days in office, Carter flew to Afghanistan and immediately injected himself in the foreign policy conversations roiling Washington and in the process, analysts say, establishing himself as a player with a White House accused of micromanaging.

Read the full article at Stars and Stripes.