Ashton Carter as Energy Secretary?

In kicking around names for a possible Energy Secretary with members of my Washington brain trust, the name of Ashton Carter has come up. With Steven Chu rumored to be on the way out, the gossip machinery is in high gear, and now Carter’s name has come up in real, professional journalist-style gossip. Here’s Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols:

Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is the leading candidate to head the Energy Department in President Barack Obama’s second term, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Carter, 58, a physicist, would replace Energy Secretary Steven Chu and be part of the core administration team overseeing energy and environmental policy, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

One of my concerns in these discussions has been the need for nuclear weapons expertise in the job. While most of the public discussion around the job (and this shows in Nichols’ story) centers on energy policy, nuclear weapons makes up 42 percent of the agency’s budget (and I’d guess a larger proportion of the agency’s management headaches).

Thanks to Frank Munger for pointing out the Bloomberg story to me.