Joe Biden picks retired general Lloyd Austin to run Pentagon
- Lloyd Austin will be the first African American US secretary of defence
- Served as top US commander in Iraq, rose to head US Central Command
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Lara Seligman, Tyler Pager, Connor O’Brien and Natasha Bertrand on politico.com on December 7, 2020.
Retired general Lloyd Austin, once viewed as a long shot candidate to be US President-elect Joe Biden’s defence secretary, has been chosen to lead the Pentagon, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.
The decision comes two weeks after Biden announced the other senior members of his national security team. Although Michele Flournoy, who was widely seen as Hillary Clinton’s choice to be defence secretary had she won the election in 2016, was initially viewed as the front runner for the job, Biden has been under growing pressure to nominate a black person to be his defence secretary.
In recent days, Austin, the former commander of US Central Command, had emerged as a top-tier candidate, although Biden also considered former Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson for the job, several people familiar with the discussions said.
Two people including a House Democratic aide said lingering concerns about Johnson’s tenure in the Obama administration had improved Austin’s standing among caucus members. Johnson has been criticised for his record on expanding family detention and accelerating deportations, as well as approving hundreds of drone strikes targeting civilians.
Congressman Bennie Thompson, a CBC member who is close to Biden, told POLITICO that “if either were selected, I would be happy”.