US President Joe Biden’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, on Tuesday pledged to tackle extremists in the military’s own ranks, after some members of the military dressed in civilian clothing took part in the attack on the US Capitol.
“The activity that we’ve seen recently in terms of potential racists or extremist behavior within our ranks is in my view absolutely unacceptable,” said Austin, a former general who is set to become the first African American to head the Pentagon.
In a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, Austin promised “to rid our ranks of racists and extremists, and to create a climate where everyone fit and willing has the opportunity to serve this country with dignity.”
Photo: Reuters
His comments came as 12 members of the US National Guard force deployed to protect Biden’s inauguration yesterday were removed during a sweep of background checks to root out any members with potential links to extremist groups.
“The job of the Department of Defense is to keep America safe from our enemies, but we can’t do that if some of those enemies lie within our own ranks,” said Austin, whose nomination has to be confirmed by the Senate.
When asked to name the main threat to the US, the 67-year-old cited the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by China.
“It’s killed over 400,000 of our American citizens. That’s just an incredible, incredible loss of life,” he said, offering his department’s help to combat the virus.
However, he said that “China is our most challenging, our most significant challenge going forward.”
He said that under his leadership, the Pentagon would “make sure that we are prepared to meet any challenge and that we continue to present a credible deterrent to China, or any other aggressor who would want to take us on, and convince them that would be a really bad idea.”
Austin remained vague about specific projects he would undertake as head of the US military, but in his written responses to US senators, he said that he planned to re-examine former US president Donald Trump’s proposals to pull US troops out of Germany and Somalia.
Yet he said that he backed a withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Asked about the threat from Iran, with which Biden has said he wants to resume dialogue, Austin said that Tehran remained a “destabilizing element in the region,” and it would be dangerous if the Iranian regime had access to nuclear weapons.
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