US president-elect Joe Biden is to nominate retired four-star US Army general Lloyd Austin to be secretary of defense, according to four people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the US Senate, Austin would be the first black leader of the Pentagon.
Biden selected Austin over the long-time front-runner candidate, Michele Flournoy, a former senior Pentagon official and Biden supporter who would have been the first woman to serve as defense secretary.
Biden had also considered Jeh Johnson, a former Pentagon general counsel and former secretary of homeland defense.
Photo: AP
The impending nomination of Austin was confirmed by four people with knowledge of the pick who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because the selection had not been formally announced.
Biden offered and Austin accepted the post on Sunday, a person familiar with the process said.
As a career military officer, the 67-year-old Austin is likely to face opposition from some in the US 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 briefly in the military, only two — George Marshall and James Mattis — have been career officers. Marshall also served as US 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 the past few days.
Austin is a 1975 graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point and served 41 years in uniform.
Biden has known Austin at least since the general’s years leading US and coalition troops in Iraq while Biden was US vice president. Austin was commander in Baghdad of the Multinational Corps-Iraq in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected US president, and he returned to lead US troops from 2010 through 2011.
Austin also served in 2012 as the first black vice chief of staff of the US Army, the service’s second highest-ranking position. A year later he assumed command of US Central Command, where he fashioned and began implementing a US 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 US Marine general who served as US President Donald Trump’s first Pentagon chief.
The Mattis period at the Pentagon is viewed by some as evidence of why a recently retired military officer should serve as defense secretary only in rare exceptions.
Although Mattis remains widely respected for his military prowess and intellect, critics have said 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 US National Security Council, said she understands why Biden would seek out candidates with a deep understanding of the military.
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