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After three defense secretaries in six years President Obama finally settled on Ashton Carter as his newest Secretary of Defense.

In announcing Carter as his newest defense secretary, the president commented, “He’s a reformer who’s never been afraid to cancel old or inefficient weapons programs. He knows the Department of Defense inside and out, all of which means that on day one, he’s going to hit the ground running.”

Carter had served as the number two official at the Pentagon and was previously passed over for the top job in favor of Chuck Hagel, but now he will be in charge as he  brings a wealth of experience by knowing the complexities of the Department of Defense.

The real concern is not Carter’s qualifications but will he have real control over the defense department or will he be micromanaged by the White House political operatives much like the previous defense secretaries had been.

This sentiment was echoed by Anthony Cordesman of the centrist Center for Strategic and International Studies: “Within a couple of weeks everything is going to depend on what is the personal relationship between the president and the secretary of defense. That’s particularly true at a time when in many ways cabinet officials seem to feel they have to talk directly to the president or be caught up in a national security process likely to become public and where there’s a lot of resistance and a lot of focus on the domestic agenda.”

By accepting the position as secretary of defense, Carter will be facing the daunting challenge of dealing with the myriad of foreign policy crises of how to deal with ISIS, what strategy should the U.S. peruse with regard to Syria? How to deal with an assertive Iran through the Middle East? What strategy should the U.S. devise in preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear device?

This isn’t the only region of the world where Carter will have to deal with.  There is President Vladimir Putin aggressive behavior in Ukraine, and China’s bellicose behavior throughout the Pacific region, plus many of our key allies throughout the world are uncertain about American resolve.

Can Carter overcome all these challenges at the Pentagon and deal simultaneous with micromanagement by the White House?

Lawrence Korb, a Reagan administration assistant defense secretary now at the Center for American Progress, noted that Carter lacks the leverage over the White House that Gates and even Panetta had. “He didn’t have the gravitas to say, ‘Before I take this job I want this, this and this to be assured,’” said Korb. “The people who’ve been successful secretaries are the ones who can say, ‘if I take the job, this is what I want.’ Gates had a lot of leverage with the president because he didn’t want the job, didn’t want to stay on. Panetta did too.”

Politico reported that doesn’t necessarily mean Carter is going to be a pushover.

“I do not think the president is looking for a doormat for the next secretary of Defense,” said Doug Wilson, assistant secretary of Defense for public affairs under Gates and Panetta. “I think he’s looking for somebody to speak truth to power and to be able to work as a key member of the national security team on the development of policy and the implementation of policy.”

Carter has enough experiences throughout the Pentagon to know how to work effectively there, Wilson said. He “knows which buttons to push when.”

“They don’t call the person commander-in-chief because he’s going to take a vote and see which policy gets the most support from his aides,” Wilson said. “Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the president as commander-in-chief to make the final decision”

Carter has all the skills and experience from past service at the Pentagon but the real question is how the president will respond when he receives advice from Carter and his military commanders on dealing with the myriad of issues currently facing the nation?

Only time will tell.