Defense secretary breaks barrier
Retired Army general confirmed as the first Black Pentagon chief
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Friday confirmed Gen. Lloyd Austin as defense secretary, filling a critical national security position in President Joe Biden’s Cabinet and elevating the first Black American in the country’s history to lead the Pentagon.
The 93-2 vote came a day after Congress swiftly moved to grant Austin, a retired four-star Army general, a special waiver to hold the post, which is required for any defense secretary who has been out of active-duty military service for less than seven years. It reflected a bipartisan consensus on Capitol Hill that it was urgent for Biden to have his Pentagon pick installed, a step normally taken on a new president’s first day.
“It’s an extraordinary, historic moment,” said Sen. Jack Reed, DR.I., the incoming chairman of the Armed Services Committee. “A significant portion of our armed forces today are African Americans or Latinos, and now they can see themselves at the very top of the Department of Defense, which makes real the notion of opportunity.”
Austin, 67, is the only African American to have led U.S. Central Command, the military’s marquee combat command, with responsibility for Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria. He retired in
2016 after 41 years in the military and is widely respected across the Army.
In taking the helm at the Pentagon, Austin will face numerous global and domestic threats at once, including an increasingly muscular China, an aggressive Russia, a pandemic and a climate crisis. He has vowed to tackle the persistent problems of sexual assault and political extremism in the ranks that so many secretaries before him denounced but did little to quell.
Shortly after he was confirmed, Austin arrived at the Pentagon to meet with senior military officials, a Defense Department spokesman said. He was set to receive a briefing on the department’s activities aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic and hold a call with Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of NATO, on Friday, the spokesman said.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to serve as our country’s 28th Secretary of Defense, and I’m especially proud to be the first African American to hold the position,” Austin wrote on Twitter. “Let’s get to work.”
Lawmakers in both parties initially were uneasy at the prospect of granting Austin an exception to the statutory bar against recently retired military personnel serving as Pentagon chiefs, a law intended to maintain civilian control of the military. They had already done so four years ago for Jim Mattis, President Donald Trump’s first defense secretary and a retired four-star Marine officer, and many had vowed then not to do so again.
But facing intense pressure from Biden’s transition team and top Democrats, and after receiving assurances from Austin that he was committed to the principles of civilian control, the majority of lawmakers supported the barrier-shattering nominee.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska,
was among those lobbying his colleagues to make the exception. He said doing so was worthwhile because Biden had too few incoming senior officials with prior military service.
“I think that argument persuaded some of my colleagues,”
said Sullivan, who shares a military history with Austin and introduced the retired general at his confirmation hearing.
“The person who got Lloyd Austin confirmed,” Sullivan said, “was Lloyd Austin.”
Two Republicans, Sens. Mike
Lee of Utah and Josh Hawley of Missouri, voted against the confirmation. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, supported him but added a note of caution in remarks from the Senate floor.
“The Senate should pause and reflect on the fact that we will have begun two consecutive presidential administrations by issuing a waiver to a four-star general and former Centcom commander to lead the Pentagon,” McConnell said.
The vote was the first time since President George H.W. Bush that an incoming president has not had a defense secretary installed at the Pentagon on the first day, a distinction that Democratic leaders were acutely aware of as they rushed to confirm Austin. The Senate on Wednesday confirmed another key national security official, Avril Haines, as director of national intelligence, and Democrats hoped to confirm Antony Blinken as secretary of state later Friday.