Biden makes his Defense choice
If confirmed, Lloyd Austin would be first Black Pentagon leader.
If confirmed, retired four- star Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin would be the Pentagon’s f irst Black leader.
WASHINGTON — President- elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four- star Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of Defense, according to four people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the f irst Black leader of the Pentagon.
Biden selected Austin over the longtime front- runner, Michele Flournoy, a former senior Pentagon official and Biden supporter who would have been the f irst woman to serve as Defense secretary. Biden also had considered Jeh Johnson, a former Pentagon general counsel and former secretary of Homeland Security.
The impending nomination of Austin was confirmed by four people with knowledge of the pick who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the selection hadn’t been formally announced.
As a career military officer, the 67- year- old Austin is likely to face opposition from some in Congress and in the defense establishment who believe in drawing a clear line between civilian and military leadership of the Pentagon. Although many previous Defense secretaries have served brief ly in the military, only two — George C. Marshall and James N. Mattis — have been career officers. Marshall also served as secretary of State.
Like Mattis, Austin would need to obtain a congressional waiver to serve as Defense secretary. Congress intended civilian control of the military when it created the position of secretary of Defense in 1947 and prohibited a recently retired military officer from holding the position.
One of the people who confirmed the pick said Austin’s selection was about choosing the best possible person but acknowledged that pressure had built to name a candidate of color and that Austin’s stock had risen in recent days.
Austin is a 1975 graduate of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point and served 41 years in uniform.
Biden has known Austin at least since the general’s years leading U. S. and coalition troops in Iraq while Biden was vice president. Austin was commander in Baghdad of the Multinational Corps- Iraq in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected president, and he returned to lead U. S. troops from 2010 to 2011.
Austin also served in 2012 as the first Black vice chief of staff of the Army, the serv
ice’s No. 2- ranking position. A year later he assumed command of U. S. Central Command, where he helped implement a U. S. military strategy for rolling back the Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
Austin retired from the Army in 2016, and he would need a congressional waiver of the legal requirement that a former member of the military be out of uniform at least seven years before serving as secretary of Defense.
That waiver has been granted only twice — most recently in the case of Mattis, the retired Marine general who served as President Trump’s f irst Pentagon chief.
Although Mattis remains widely respected for his military prowess and intellect, critics say he tended to surround himself with military officers at the expense of a broader civilian perspective. He resigned in December 2018 in protest of Trump’s policies.
Loren DeJonge Schulman, who spent 10 years in senior staff positions at the Pentagon and the National Security Council, said she worries that appointing a general to a political role could prolong some of the damage caused by Trump’s politicization of the military.
“Retired generals are not one- for- one substitutes of civilian leaders,” she said. “General officers bring different skills and different perspectives, and great generals do not universally make good appointees.”
Austin has a reputation for strong leadership, integrity and a sharp intellect. He earned the admiration of the Obama administration for his work in Iraq and at Central Command, although he disagreed with Obama’s decision to pull out of Iraq entirely in December 2011.
Austin is a member of the board of directors of Raytheon Technologies.
Word of Austin’s selection broke a day before a meeting between Biden and Vice President- elect Kamala Harris and civil rights groups, many of which had pushed the president- elect to pick more Black Cabinet members.
Politico f irst reported Biden’s selection of Austin.