Obama Faces Shrinking Pool of Pentagon Contenders by Julie Pace, Associated Press
Wanted: Thick-skinned candidate to oversee a sprawling bureaucracy bitten by budget cuts and join a national security team besieged by criticism. Must be tolerant of White House interference.
The job conditions for President Barack Obama's next defense secretary have already spurred some top contenders to bow out, leaving the White House with a slim list of candidates to fill the post for the administration's final two years. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson became the latest to tell the White House he wasn't interested in the job, according to people familiar with the process…