WAS SHINGTON – President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., Lloyd J., his choice of defense secretary on Wednesday. Austin praised Stein III, as a “leader of extraordinary courage, character, experience and accomplishments,” and called on Congress to release the retired Four Star Army general.
“He is loved by men and women of the Armed Forces, intimidated by our comrades, known and respected by our comrades,” Mr. Biden said at an event in Wilmington, Dale. Alliance of America. “
Mr Biden said placing a Pentagon under the leadership of a general overseeing US military operations in Iraq and saving the United States from war in the Middle East was unlikely.
“We need the infinite value of war, and the burden it places on our service members and their families, to help end its wars forever and to make sure that the use of force is the last tool in our toolbox,” Biden said. “Not the first.”
Leaning above his lectures at Le feet inches, General Instein also emphasized his remarks that he would work closely with American diplomats and allies. “America is the strongest when it comes to working with its allies,” he said.
He said he and Mr Biden “got to know each other in some intense and high-pressure situations” and promised Mr Biden “the same direct and unambiguous advice” during the Obama administration while he was overseeing him. U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq and then launch military operation against Islamic State
Mr Biden recalled a meeting at the residence of the US ambassador to Iraq that General Instein was present when the building was attacked by rockets by insurgents.
“It simply came to our notice then. He just sat there and continued, ”said Mr. Biden. “It’s equally refreshing to all the people around, cool under fire.”
One of those people, Mr. Biden, said his son was Beau Biden, who served as a military lawyer for General Instein’s staff in Iraq.
General Aust Stein told little Mr Biden, who died in 2015, “a very special person, and a true patriot, and a good friend to all who knew him”, adding that the two had been in touch since Biden returned home.
If confirmed, General Instein will become the first Black Defense Secretary, a historic development he acknowledged in comments that members of the Black Service were called up from Buffalo soldiers of the Civil War to Tuskegee Airmen of World War II to the Montford Point Marine. Black men were known to serve in the Marines after the North Carolina camp where they were trained. “A lot of people have paved the way for me,” he said.
Mr Biden said General Austin was the right leader at a time when more than 0 per cent of Americans in active duty were people of color. “The leadership of the department reflects that diversity is a thing of the past,” he said.
However, to confirm, General Instein would need to win congressional exemptions from a 1947 law requiring military veterans to retire from active duty for at least seven years before heading the Department of Defense. General Instein retired from the Army in April 2016.
Civil control of the military has been a national priority since the country’s founding, and General Instein’s election brought immediate opposition to Capitol Hill to break with tradition.
But the need can be forgiven by the vote of both chambers of Congress, as has happened twice before – most recently in early 2017, after President Trump appointed the recently retired Marine General Jim Mattis as his secretary of defense.
“There is a good reason for this law that I understand and respect. “If I didn’t believe that this moment in our history wouldn’t demand it, I wouldn’t ask for this exception,” Mr. Biden said. “As they did for Jim Mattis, I want to apologize to Congress.”
Mr. Biden’s team has begun making his case to legislators, where Democratic leaders have expressed strong support for the nomination, and believe General Austin’s prospects are good.
“Lloyd Aust Stein has served our nation for more than four decades and his willingness to serve his country again is commendable,” Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and minority leader, said Wednesday on the floor of the chamber. “They will make an excellent secretary of defense.”
On Tuesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi also announced her support for General Instein in a statement that did not take into account his recent retirement.
Some legislators have acknowledged that it was difficult for General Austin to justify opposing the amnesty, while Mr. Mattis was approved by Congress.
“I am primarily opposed to the amnesty,” said Roe Khanna, a California Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. “But I don’t see how we can give it to Mattis and then turn it over a few years later and reject one of the most highly qualified African-American leaders to serve our country.”
But many Democrats still qualify.
“As Democrats, we’ve only spent four years watching such rules being violated,” said Rep. Tom Malinowski, a Democrat from New Jersey and a former State Department official. “It really feels like if an apology would turn an exception into a rule.”
He added that he has not yet decided how they will vote when the question is put in the House.
Representative Adam Smith, the Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that he is confident General Austin will “make an excellent secretary of defense.” But he said he was “concerned” about his recent military service and that General Austin must meet with members of Congress to demonstrate his commitment to civilian control over the Pentagon.
General Instein on Wednesday called for such concerns to be addressed. He said, “I have come to this new role as a civilian leader – with military experience, to be sure – but also with deep appreciation and respect for the prevailing wisdom of our military’s civilian control.”
The nomination of General Instein on Wednesday received ringing support from two leading national security figures serving in the Republican and Democratic administrations.
In a statement, Robert M. Gates, President George W. Bush. The former Secretary of Defense under Bush and Barack Obama called General Austin Stein “an independent and stable hand with a definite integrity, thought and discretion.” And Colin L. Powell, the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first black secretary of state, said in a statement on his Facebook page that he was a mentor to General in Stein, and asked Congress to approve the amnesty. Normal to serve.
Mr Powell said General Instein had “demonstrated his fighting skills and his bureaucratic, diplomatic and political skills.”
Luke Broadwater, Emily Cochrane And Nicholas Fandos Contributed report.
