General Lloyd Austin III,    US CENTRAL COMMAND  UNITED STATES ARMY  (credit: Wikipedia)

By Gary Raynaldo        DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

President-elect Joe Biden plans to name Lloyd Austin, a retired U.S. Army four-star general, as his pick for secretary of defense, who would become the first African American to head to the Pentagon.  News of the pick was first reported by Politico, and confirmed by CNN. General Austin is highly respected in military circles and brings decades of experience having  previously led the U.S. Central Command in its Iraq campaign.  Austin was the first Black commander of CENTCOM.  The USCENTCOM  is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense, its area of Responsibility includes the Middle East, including Egypt in Africa, and Central Asia and parts of South Asia. The command has been the main American presence in many military operations, including the Persian Gulf War’s Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011. During his campaign, Biden promised to appoint the most diverse cabinet in American history.  Biden already made a revolutionary move in this  direction with his selection as Kamala Harris as the first African-American woman to serve as his Vice President. After the election, Biden then tapped veteran African American diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield as his U.S. Ambassador to the  United Nations. 

“We need a leader who is tested, and matched to the challenges we face in this moment.  In his more than 40 years in the United States Army, Austin met every challenge with extraordinary skill and profound personal decency. He is a true and tested soldier and leader. I’ve spent countless hours with him, in the field and in the White House Situation Room. He was the first African American general officer to lead an Army corps in combat and the first African American to command an entire theater of war; if confirmed, he will be the first African American to helm the Defense Department—another milestone in a barrier-breaking career dedicated to keeping the American people secure. Above all, I chose Lloyd Austin as my nominee for secretary of defense because I know how he reacts under pressure, and I know that he will do whatever it takes to defend the American people.”

-President-Elect Joe Biden on why he chose General Austin in  article in The Atlantic 

General  Austin meeting with US ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey (left) and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta (center) in 2011 (credit: Wikipedia) 

Austin was born in 1953, in Mobile, Alabama and raised in Thomasville, Georgia. He graduated from the United States Military Academy (West Point) with a Bachelor of Science degree in June 1975.  He is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College.  On September 1, 2010, Austin became Commanding General (CG) of U.S. Forces – Iraq (USF-I).  After retiring, Austin in 2016 joined the board of Raytheon Technologies, a military contractor  

Austin will need a congressional waiver of the National Security Act of 1947 to bypass the seven-year waiting period after leaving active-duty military, as prescribed by 10 U.S.C. § 113(a), in order to be appointed as secretary of defense.  It would be only the third time a president has requested a waiver — President Harry Truman for George Marshall in 1950, and President Trump for James Mattis.

The U.S. Department of Defense has been named the largest employer in the world with 3.2 million employees on its payroll, according to the World Economic Forum. The second largest is China’s People’s Liberation Army with 2.3 million on its staff roster and third biggest is Wal-Mart Stores Inc.