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Biden to name former general Lloyd Austin III as US defence secretary
India will be closely watching the nomination and confirmation of Lloyd Austin III, who if confirmed will be the first Black person to hold the top Pentagon job.
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to name retired Gen Lloyd Austin III as US secretary of defence. He will become the first Black person to hold the top Pentagon job if confirmed.
Austin, a four-star general, is the only African American to head the vaunted US Central Command with responsibility for American military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. He oversaw the US troop surge in Iraq in 2006 and the withdrawal in 2011.
Austin retired in 2016 and his nomination, and confirmation by US Senate, will require a congressional waiver of a law that mandates a cooling off period of seven years for US military personnel to head the Pentagon.
It would be a second time for this to be done in recent years. James Mattis, who was outgoing President Donald Trump’s first secretary of defence, needed a waiver as well in 2017; he had retired in 2013. His last assignment was head of the Central Command. He was succeeded by Austin.
Austin’s nomination is expected to be announced on Tuesday, according to Politico, which first reported the selection.
India will be watching Austin’s nomination and confirmation closely. Growing defence ties — both operationally through military exercises, agreements and exchange of sensitive information and technologies; and commercially through deals — account for a large portion of the bilateral relationship.
The 2+2 India-US ministerial dialogue between the defence and foreign ministers of the two countries, the third edition of which was held in New Delhi this October, has emerged as the key driver of the relationship, between summit-level meetings.
Antony Blinken is Biden’s nominee for the second leg of the 2+2 as secretary of state. He has been an outspoken supporter of stronger ties with India as a foreign policy spokesperson for Biden and has promised India will be a part of the incoming administration’s uncompromising stance towards China.
