When he accepted the job as Barack Obama's Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter must have been under the impression that he was expected to not only pursue rational policies in support of America's national security and interests around the world, but also speak honestly about them. I don't know why he would think that having observed the patterns of this president, but it would explain why he actually gave an honest answer recently about the prospect that we could actually defeat ISIS within the arbitrary three-year period set forth in Obama's proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force.
