“Retired Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, former commander of U.S. Central Command and a Silver Star recipient from the Iraq war, may become the first Black secretary of defense,” Military.com reported last week (read that story here).
Today he did (read story here), edging out Michelle Flourney, a defense policy specialist whom Rep. Adam Smith (R-WA), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, touted as “hands down the best qualified person for the job.” However, Flourney was opposed by progressive Democrats (read why here), and Biden also was under pressure to pick a black person for this job.
There’s been no official announcement yet (that may come Tuesday); Politico, apparently relying on inside sources, broke the news (here). Austin would be only the third career military officer to serve as defense secretary (following in the footsteps of George C. Marshall and James Mattis), and “is likely to face opposition from some in Congress and in the defense establishment who believe in drawing a clear line between civilian and military leadership of the Pentagon,” according to Hamodia, which bills itself as “the daily newspaper of Torah Jewry” (read their story here).
Biden has known Austin for years, and that likely played a role in the selection, as Biden is generally sticking with people he knows to fill the top posts in his administration. But the real question is, what does this imply about what Biden’s defense policy will be? So far, I haven’t found any commentary on that.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear whether there will be any role for Flourney at all. She might seem a logical choice for the Pentagon’s No. 2 job, but her recent work for defense contractors is seen by some as a potential conflict of interest.
Photo below: Biden and Austin in 2011.
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