Fluornoy drops out of Defense Secretary race, source confirms

By Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor
Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor

Benjamin Snyder is Fortune's managing editor, leading operations for the newsroom.

Prior to rejoining Fortune, he was a managing editor at Business Insider and has worked as an editor for Bloomberg, LinkedIn and CNBC, covering leadership stories, sports business, careers and business news. He started his career as a breaking news reporter at Fortune in 2014.

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100201-D-7203C-002 Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy conducts a press conference with Director of DoD Force Structure Vice Adm. Steve Stanley to discuss the Quadrennial Defense Review and Ballistic Missile Defense Review in the Pentagon on Feb. 1, 2010. DoD photo by Cherie Cullen. (Released)
Cherie Cullen

Michèle Fluornoy, who had been touted as a top contender for Defense Secretary after Chuck Hagel stepped down Monday, is dropping out of the race, a source confirmed with Fortune.

Fluornoy sent a letter to the board of the Center for a New American Security, a think tank she co-founded and currently heads, saying that she will remain on the job, the source said.

Her withdrawal, first reported by Foreign Policy, leaves a handful of candidates in the running including former Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.

Fluornoy had previously served as undersecretary of defense under Obama. If she had won nomination, she would have been the department’s first female leader.