President-elect Joe Biden is expected to take a historic step and select a woman to head the Pentagon for the first time, breaking one of the few remaining barriers for women in the department and the presidential cabinet.
Michele Flournoy, a politically moderate Pentagon veteran, is viewed by US officials and political experts as the best fit for the job.
His selection would come on the heels of a tumultuous period at the Pentagon that has seen five men occupy the top job under President Donald Trump. The most recent defense secretary to leave was Mark Esper, who was fired by Trump on Monday after rejecting issues such as troop withdrawals and the use of the military to quell civil unrest.
If confirmed, Flournoy would face a future that is expected to involve the reduction of Pentagon budgets and possible military involvement in the distribution of a coronavirus vaccine.
Democrats have long sought to appoint a woman to the top job in a department that didn’t open up all combat jobs to female service members until about five years ago. Flournoy had been Hillary Clinton’s long-awaited pick if she had won the 2016 election. Her name emerged early as a favorite for Biden’s cabinet, officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters said.
Flournoy, 59, has been seen as a firm hand in favor of strong military cooperation abroad, and has served several times at the Pentagon, beginning in the 1990s and most recently as undersecretary of defense for policy from 2009 to 2012. He is a member of the board of directors of Booz Allen Hamilton, a defense contractor, which could raise concerns from some legislators. But his moderate views would likely guarantee broad bipartisan support in a position that requires Senate confirmation.
Few other names have been mentioned, although former Department of Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson was mentioned as a possible option at one point. Choosing a woman would be consistent with Biden’s promise of a diverse cabinet.
She has been outspoken about American foreign and defense policy, particularly over the past year. She favors closer international cooperation after four years of a Trump White House promoting a “America first” policy and being more distrustful and critical of allies.
“Whoever the next president is,” he said in March, “whether it’s a second term from Trump or Vice President Biden or whoever, one of the main items on the agenda is going to try, I think, to repair some of that perception.” that the United States is no longer a reliable partner. “But I don’t think it’s easy or that it happens overnight. I think it will take a lot of work over several years to regain that confidence and that position. “
He also warned against drastic and immediate changes.
“One of the most dangerous trends is that after a change of administration, particularly when there is a change of game, the new team comes in and uses the term ‘repudiation.’ But to go in and assume that everything their predecessors did was wrong, you know, they dump the baby with the bath water, basically, and over-correct in another direction, ”he said on a Hudson Institute forum.
Arnold Punaro, a retired two-star Navy general and former director of staff for the Senate Armed Services Committee under then-Democratic Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, recently said he considers Flournoy “incredibly well qualified” to lead the Pentagon. .
The Department of Defense is one of three Cabinet agencies, the others being Treasury Affairs and Veterans Affairs, which have never been headed by a woman. Some of the 28 men who have held the top defense post since it was created in 1947, including three who served in the Trump administration, Jim Mattis, Esper and current Acting Secretary Christopher Miller, have been military veterans. Flournoy did not serve in the army.
Like Mattis and Esper, Flournoy sees China as the single most important long-term challenge to American dominance on the world stage. In July, he said the United States is losing its military technology advantage over key competitors like China and reversing this trend should be the Pentagon’s top priority.
However, he also warned against neglecting the Middle East and instead advocates “more modest levels of continued presence” there. As an example, he has endorsed a limited role in Afghanistan that focuses more on countering the terrorist threat and less on rebuilding the country.
“We want to reduce our commitment, but we want to do it in a smart way and that protects our interests in the process,” he said in March about Afghanistan, adding that he hopes “we will not just cut and run. “Trump has pushed for troops to fully withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of the year, but so far the Pentagon has no orders to do so.
On North Korea, she said in an October online forum that while nuclear disarmament should remain the ultimate goal, she finds it “hard to see” that Kim Jong Un agrees to give up all of his nuclear weapons, which, according to her, he considers them to be from his “survival card” regime.
In Iran, Flournoy has advocated for a revised approach to deter the Islamic Republic by breaking the familiar pattern of sending more American forces to the Gulf in response to Iranian provocations, as the Trump administration did in May 2019 after what he called threats. credible to the United States. interests in the region.
Flournoy is a co-founder of Westexec Advisors, a consulting firm that provides geopolitical risk analysis and advice to corporate clients. He works with a mix of former senior government officials, including Antony Blinken, former undersecretary of state and currently Biden’s top foreign policy adviser, and military experts such as retired Army General Vincent Brooks, who led US forces in Korea until 2019.
In 2007, Flournoy helped create a group of experts, the Center for a New American Security.
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