WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) –– Lloyd Austin, who led US troops into Baghdad in 2003 and rose to head the US Central Command, has been chosen by President-elect Joe Biden to be the first African-American secretary of defense, US media reported.
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.
As a career military officer, Austin is likely to face opposition from some in Congress and in the defence establishment who believe in drawing a clear line between civilian and military leadership of the Pentagon.
Although many previous defence secretaries have served briefly in the military, only two – George Marshall and James Mattis – have been career officers. Marshall also served as secretary of state.
Like Mattis, Austin would need to obtain 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 defence.
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 vice-president.
Austin was commander in Baghdad of the Multinational Corps-Iraq in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected 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 army.
A year later he assumed command of US Central Command, where he fashioned and began implementing a US military strategy for rolling back the Daesh militants in Iraq and Syria.
Austin retired from the army in 2016. — NNN-AGENCIES
