Ash Carter returns to Harvard

Former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is coming full circle as he returns to the Harvard Kennedy School, where he was a professor in between his two stints at the Pentagon.

Carter will serve as the first Belfer Professor of Technology and Global Affairs and replace Graham Allison as head of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

According to a Harvard press release, Carter "will focus his scholarship on the role of innovation and technology in addressing challenges at home and around the world."

"Technology has a fundamental role to play in solving some of our nation's and other nations' most complex problems, and I look forward to working with the Kennedy School's world-class scholars and students to explore how innovation can advance the public good," Carter said in the press statement.

During his time at the Pentagon, Carter oversaw the standup of a number of innovation programs and initiatives such as the Defense Digital Service and the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental.

His focus on innovation was informed by his time serving as deputy secretary of defense and undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics -- a position that is in the process of being split into two new undersecretary positions as mandated by the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.

Carter served at assistant secretary of defense for International Security Policy from 1993 to 1996 and has served on the defense policy and defense science boards as well as serving in a number of capacities at the Kennedy School over the years.

Carter's former Pentagon Chief of Staff Eric Rosenbach is joining him at Harvard as co-director of the Belfer Center and a lecturer in public policy. Rosenbach previously served as the first principal cyber advisor to the secretary of defense.