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Austin would be responsible for the 1.2 million active duty members, of which about 16% are black.
In this file photo taken on March 8, 2016, Army General Lloyd Austin III, commander of the United States Central Command, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC. US President-elect Joe Biden has chosen retired General Lloyd Austin to head his Defense Department, US media reported on December 7, 2020. Image: AFP
WASHINGTON – Lloyd Austin, who led US troops to Baghdad in 2003 and rose to the head of the US Central Command, was chosen by President-elect Joe Biden to be the first African-American secretary of defense, US media reported Monday.
A veteran of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 67-year-old retired four-star army general beat the favorite for the job, former Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy, amid pressure on Biden to nominate more minorities for cabinet positions.
CNN, Politico and the New York Times cited anonymous sources familiar with the decision, after Biden said earlier Monday that he had made his decision and would announce it on Friday. Austin would require Senate confirmation to take office.
He spent four decades in the military, graduating from West Point Military Academy and pursuing a career with a wide range of assignments, from leading platoons to leading logistics groups and overseeing recruiting, to senior positions in the Pentagon.
In March 2003, he was the assistant division commander of the 3rd Infantry Division when he marched from Kuwait to Baghdad in the US invasion of Iraq.
From late 2003 to 2005, he was in Afghanistan commanding Combined Joint Task Force 180, the main US-led operation that seeks to stabilize the security situation in the country.
In 2010 he was appointed commanding general of US forces in Iraq and two years later he became commander of the Central Command, in charge of all Pentagon operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
FEW AFRICAN AMERICANS IN COMMAND JOBS
Austin retired from the military in 2016 and joined the board of directors of Raytheon Technologies, one of the Pentagon’s largest contractors.
It would require special approval from the Senate because of federal law that requires military officers to wait seven years after retirement before serving as head of the Pentagon.
The waiver has happened twice, most recently for General Jim Mattis, the first defense secretary in President Donald Trump’s administration.
But members of the Senate reluctantly agreed, amid concerns about Trump’s views on the military, with several saying at the time that they would not want to do so again.
“It shouldn’t be considered for the same reason Sec. Mattis shouldn’t have been,” Congressman Justin Amash said 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 rule.”
Austin would assume responsibility for the 1.2 million active duty members, about 16% of whom are black.
But blacks serve disproportionately in the lower ranks, and few have reached positions of high command.
The problem became clearer over the past year when African American men and women voiced support for the national Black Lives Matter movement against racism and police abuse.
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he held numerous listening sessions so that white soldiers understood what black colleagues were feeling.
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