Carter opened all combat positions to women and ended the ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces.
Carter served as the nation’s 25th defense secretary and held the role from early 2015 to the end of the Obama administration in January 2017. During his tenure leading the Pentagon, Carter oversaw the military’s campaign to defeat ISIS, to women and on transgender people serving in the armed forces.
He most recently led the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
„It is with deep and profound sadness that the family of former Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter shares that Secretary Carter passed away Monday evening in Boston after a sudden cardiac event at the age of 68,“ his family said. „[He] devoted his professional life to the national security of the United States and teaching students about international affairs.
