WASHINGTON, Dec 8, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – President-elect Joe Biden has chosen
Lloyd Austin, who led US troops into Baghdad in 2003 and rose to head the US
Central Command, as the first African-American secretary of defense, US media
reported Monday.
A veteran of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the retired four-star army
general, 67, beat out the favorite for the job, former under-secretary of
defense Michele Flournoy, amid pressure on Biden to nominate more minorities
for positions in his cabinet.
CNN, Politico and The New York Times cited unnamed sources familiar with
the decision, after Biden said earlier Monday that he had made his choice and
would announce it on Friday.
Austin would require Senate confirmation to take up the post. He would also
require a special waiver from the Senate due to federal law that requires
military officers to wait seven years after retirement before serving as the
Pentagon chief.
The rule is rooted in the view that only a civilian should serve as defense
secretary.
The waiver has happened twice — most recently for General Jim Mattis in
2017, President Donald Trump’s first defense secretary.
But members of the Senate agreed begrudgingly, and several said at the time
that they wouldn’t want to do it again.
– Middle East commander –
Austin spent four decades in the army, graduating from West Point Military
Academy and following a career with a wide range of assignments, from leading
platoons to running logistics groups and overseeing recruiting, to senior
Pentagon jobs.
In March 2003, he was the assistant division commander of the 3rd Infantry
Division when it marched from Kuwait into Baghdad in the US invasion of Iraq.
From late 2003 to 2005, he was in Afghanistan commanding the Combined Joint
Task Force 180, the principle US-led operation seeking to stabilize the
security situation in the country.
In 2010, he was made commanding general of US forces in Iraq, and two years
later became the commander of the Central Command, in charge of all Pentagon
operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
That put him in charge of the fight against the Islamic State as it
captured large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
During that period, he reportedly earned the trust of Biden, who was vice
president at the time.
– Few African Americans in command jobs –
Austin would take responsibility for the 1.2 million active service
members, of whom about 16 percent are Black.
But Black people serve disproportionately in the lower ranks, and few have
achieved high command positions.
The issue became more clear over the past year when African-American
servicemen and women expressed support for the national Black Lives Matter
movement against police racism and abuse.
Former defense secretary Mark Esper said he held numerous listening
sessions to make white soldiers understand what their Black colleagues felt.
Austin faces several challenges: first is the rule that the position should
only be filled by civilians.
“He shouldn’t be considered for the same reason that Sec. Mattis shouldn’t
have been,” said Congressman Justin Amash in a tweet.
“The law prohibits recently retired members of the Armed Forces from
serving in this civilian capacity. Biden would be the second president in a
row to violate this norm.”
Second are Austin’s ties to the defense industry. After retiring in 2016,
he joined the board of directors of Raytheon Technologies, one of the
Pentagon’s largest contractors, with multi-billion dollar arms supply
contracts up for review.
He also was involved with a consultant, WestExec Advisors, already the
source of several senior members of the Biden administration, including
secretary of state pick Antony Blinken and Avril Haines, nominee for director
of national intelligence.
Flournoy was one of the firm’s founders.
Women in the defense and national security community expressed
disappointment that Flournoy, who had stellar qualifications for the job and
would have been the first-ever female defense secretary, was bypassed.
“Nothing but respect for Lloyd Austin, but picking another 4 star so
recently retired that he needs a congressional waiver sends a terrible
message,” said Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown University law professor formerly
with the Department of Defense.