Biden Makes History And Chooses Retired Gen. Lloyd Austin To Be Secretary Of Defense

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:24 pm

President-elect Joe Biden is set to make even more history this week as he will reportedly choose retired Gen. Lloyd Austin to be his Secretary of Defense, according to Politico.

If the United States Senate confirms Austin, he would become the first African-American man to lead the Pentagon – another historic choice for an upcoming administration that will likely be the most diverse in history.

According to Politico, “The Biden team saw Austin as the safe choice, said one former defense official close to the transition, adding that the retired general is believed to be a good soldier who would carry out the president-elect’s agenda.”

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More about Austin’s trailblazing career via Politico:

Austin has had a career of firsts. He was the first Black general to command an Army division in combat and the first to oversee an entire theater of operations. In 2013, President Barack Obama named him to run Central Command, responsible for all U.S. military operations in the Middle East, where he oversaw operations against the Islamic State when it took over large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Before his appointment to Central Command, Austin served as the top U.S. commander in Iraq, where he played a role in the surge of forces that began in 2007 and was in charge of the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces in 2011. He was also the first Black vice chief of staff of the Army, the service’s second ranking officer.

Biden is building the most diverse administration in history

Throughout the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden pledged that his administration would look like America, and he has so far delivered on that promise.

From his choice of Kamala Harris as his vice president to an all-female communications team to the first African-American man potentially leading the Department of Defense, the incoming administration couldn’t look any more different than the current one.

It’s a breath of fresh air after four years of a White House that looked more reflective of a ritzy country club than a diverse democracy.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.