Former Pentagon chief Ash Carter returns to teach at Harvard

U.S. Secretary of Defence, Ash Carter, arrives for a meeting of the North Atlantic Council Defence Ministers session at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. NATO defence ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss tense... (Copyright by WSLS - All rights reserved)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter is returning to teach at Harvard after leaving the Pentagon.

The Ivy League school said Tuesday that Carter is being hired as a professor of technology and global affairs and as director of Harvard's Belfer Center think tank.

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Carter is returning to academia after serving as defense secretary under President Barack Obama from 2015 until this year. He previously taught at Harvard from 1996 to 2009.

Harvard President Drew Faust says Carter's experience "will be of great benefit to our students and scholars."

As defense secretary, Carter built relationships with the tech industry and opened Pentagon outposts in tech hubs such as Silicon Valley.

Now Carter says he wants to provide a link between Harvard and the tech community to help solve national problems.

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