WASHINGTON: President-elect of the United States Joe biden you have selected retired General of the Army Lloyd Austin to run the Pentagon as Secretary of Defense, according to media reports.
If confirmed by the Senate, the 67-year-old career military officer would be the first African-American to lead the Department of Defense.
The president-elect’s office did not confirm the news, but said Biden will announce additional members of his cabinet before Christmas, including his candidate for secretary of defense and members of his economic and national cabinet before the end of this week.
“Retired General Lloyd Austin, once considered a long-term candidate to be President-elect Joe Biden’s secretary of defense, has been chosen to head the Pentagon,” Politico reported Monday.
Biden has selected retired Austin, a former commander of the US Central Command, as his secretary of defense, CNN also reported, citing a source familiar with the decision.
Biden’s decision to elect Austin comes amid mounting pressure from African Americans to name one of them to the top four positions: Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense and Attorney General, according to political observers.
Austin was the Commander of the United States Central Command from 2013 to 2016. In this role, he interacted closely with top Pakistani military leaders.
If nominated by Biden, he would be the second Secretary of Defense after James Mattis in four years to require congressional waiver to head office. Mattis, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general, served as Secretary of Defense from January 2017 to January 2019.
According to the rules, a former member of the military must be out of uniform for at least seven years before serving as secretary of defense. The laws were intended to preserve the civilian nature of the Department of Defense.
Austin in 2012 also served as the Army’s first African-American Deputy Chief of Staff. A year later, he assumed the post of the United States Central Command.
Austin retired from the military in 2016.
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