CSIA Head

Putnam also felt confident that Carter, who has been the center's associate director, could lead the CSIA effectively into an indeterminate future.

"I have been tremendously impressed with [Carter's] vision of the future of CSIA and its role in this changing world," he said in a prepared statement.

Carter said his first goal is to revitalize the center.

"One of our problems [at the CSIA] is that over the past two years, the level of activity has wound down. My first priority is catching up with the wind-down," he said.

Carter graduated Summa Cum Laude from Yale University in 1976 and was a Rhodes Scholar. He was the co-editor of Ballistic Missile Defense and of Managing Nuclear Operations.