WASHINGTON – Retired General Lloyd Austin has been confirmed as President Biden’s Pentagon chief, becoming the first African-American Secretary of Defense to overcome strong affirmative headwinds from both sides.
The Senate voted overwhelmingly for Austin on Friday, 93-2.
Austin, a four-star general who retired in 2016, had to get a waiver from Congress to override a law that says a defense secretary must wait seven years from active duty to hold the highest civilian position.
Lawmakers had been wary of granting a second waiver after granting one to President Donald Trump’s first secretary of defense, retired General Jim Mattis, but ultimately voted to confirm Austin.
Last month, a number of House Democrats asked Austin, the former leader of the US Central Command, to support civilian control of the military.
Biden praised Austin’s leadership and urged Congress to approve the waiver, which the House eventually did in another two-part 326-78 vote Thursday.
“We need his firsthand knowledge of the immeasurable cost of war and the burden it places on our servants and their families to end the eternal wars and ensure that the use of force is last tool in our toolbox, not the first, ”Biden said earlier this month.
Austin, only the sixth African American to hold the rank of a four-star army general and the first to lead an army corps into battle, is a historic head of the Pentagon, but was not the first choice for the role.
Pentagon veteran Michele Flournoy, who served as undersecretary of defense under President Barack Obama and deputy assistant secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton, was considered Biden’s first choice and would be the first woman to lead the Pentagon.
Democratic Sens. Montana’s John Tester and Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal opposed Austin’s waiver last month and were among 17 Senate Democrats who voted against doing the same for Mattis in 2017.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he would vote to confirm Austin, calling him “a clear patriot with an impressive career,” but warned Congress to continue to ignore the waiver.
“It’s not just a simplistic fear that the military will eventually run itself. On the contrary, many experts fear that military leaders’ proper fixation on apolitics will not prepare them to fight vigorously for our armed forces amid the political turmoil in the executive branch and here in Congress, ”McConnell said.
Austin is the second member of Biden’s cabinet to be confirmed, after Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.