BIDEN TAPS AUSTIN FOR DEFENSE POST
Former commander would become first Black Pentagon chief
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to nominate retired Gen. Lloyd Austin, a former commander of the U.S. military effort in Iraq, to be the next secretary of defense, according to two people with knowledge of the selection.
If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would make history as the first African American to lead the country’s 1.3 million active-duty troops and the enormous bureaucracy that backs them up.
Austin, 67, was for years a formidable figure at the Pentagon and is the only African American to have headed U.S. Central Command, the military’s marquee combat command, with responsibility for Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria — most of the places where the United States is at war.
Austin is known as a battlefield commander. But he is less known for his political instincts — and has sometimes stumbled in congressional hearings, including a session in 2015 when he acknowledged, under testy questioning, that the Department of Defense’s $500 million program to raise an army of Syrian fighters had gone nowhere.
He was selected over another front-runner, Michèle Flournoy, who had served in senior Pentagon policy jobs and mentored a generation of women in national security who had pushed for her appointment as the first female defense secretary.
Biden, who is meeting with NAACP leaders today, was facing pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus and other Black officials to name an African American to run the departments of Defense or Justice.
It was unclear Monday night what tipped the scale for Austin. People close to the transition noted that, during the Obama presidency, Biden was unhappy with the high profile of the Pentagon, with generals like David Petraeus gaining near rock-star status,
and the belief that the Pentagon rolled President Barack Obama into increasing troop numbers in Afghanistan.
Austin’s lower profile, those people suggested, may match with Biden’s hopes for a more muted department.
Still, Austin may face some pushback from lawmakers who feel strongly about civilian control of the military, and do not think a retired general can make the transition. Like Jim Mattis, who was President Donald Trump’s first defense secretary, Austin would
have to get a congressional waiver to serve, since he has been out of the military for only four years and U.S. law requires a seven-year waiting period between active duty and becoming Pentagon chief.
It is not assured that Austin would get the waiver; Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, had indicated after Mattis’ confirmation that he would oppose future waivers for the post. But for Reed to reject
the first African American nominated to be defense secretary, after approving Mattis, would be notable.
Austin, who retired as a four-star general in 2016 after 41 years in the military, is respected across the Army, especially among African American officers and enlisted soldiers, as one of the few Black men to crack the glass ceiling that has kept the upper ranks of the military largely the domain of White men.
Austin broke through that barrier because of his experience, intellect and the mentorship of a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, who plucked him to direct the staff of the Joint Chiefs’ office.
After that, Austin continued to rise in the ranks. He was named commander of Central Command by Obama in 2013.
Shortly after the 2020 election, Austin took part in an online session that Biden had with former national security officials. During that meeting, Austin impressed Biden, aides said. His selection was reported earlier by Politico.
After retiring, Austin joined the board of directors of defense contractor Raytheon Technologies, a fact that garnered criticism Monday night.
“OH COME ON. A General and Raytheon board?” said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, in a Twitter post. “Possibly the worst of all options. Bad news for civilian control and any real distance from the military-industrial complex.”
But his supporters point to a long career in combat and command, including some of the most difficult assignments of the post-9/11 era.
Austin became the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq in 2010, when the United States still had roughly 50,000 service members there.
Later, as commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East, Austin was the principal military architect of the U.S.-led campaign to oust the Islamic State, after the insurgents seized territory in eastern Syria and northern Iraq the size of Britain, in June 2014.