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Name: Ashton B. Carter, Ph.D.
Title: Professor of Science and International Affairs
Harvard University, Kenedy School of Government

Position: PRO to the question "Should the U.S. have attacked Iraq?"
Reasoning:

"I believed it was safer to assume Saddam Hussein was trying to fulfill his long-demonstrated quest for WMD than to interpret the scanty intelligence available as evidence of a scanty WMD program. I still believe my judgment to support the invasion of Iraq was sound on the basis of the information available at the time."

Testimony before the House Armed Services Committee
Regarding Seven Steps to Overhaul Counterproliferation
March 17, 2004
Credibility
Ranking:
 Experts
PhD's, JD's (lawyers), Judges, Members of Congress, Ambassadors, Consulate Generals, heads of government, Cabinet-level positions, military generals/admirals, members of legislative bodies with significant involvement in, or related to, the U.S.- Iraq conflict.

Involvement:
  • Ford Foundation Professor of Science and International Affairs
    Harvard University, Kenedy School of Government, 1996-present
  • Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project, (a research collaboration of Stanford University and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government), 1996-present
  • Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, 1993-1996
      Responsible for national security policy on arms control in the states of the former Soviet Union, for countering arms proliferation worldwise, and for overseeing the U.S. nuclear arsenal and missile defense programs
  • Director of the Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government

Education: Ph.D., Oxford University, Theoretical Physics
B.A., Yale University, Medieval History & Physics

Affiliations/
Honors:
  • Twice awarded the Department of Defense's Distinguished Service Medal, (the highest award given by the Pentagon)

Contact Info:
Phone: 617-495-1405 Fax: 617-495-9250
E-Mail:   ashton_carter@harvard.edu
Web Sitehttp://ksgfaculty.harvard.edu/ashton_carter

Other: Select Publications:
  • Preventive Defense: A New Security Strategy for America, w/ William J. Perry, Brookings Institution, 2003
  • Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism, Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism, (w/ Branscomb, Lewis M., Richard D. Klausner, et al.), National Academy, 2002
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