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General Lloyd Austin, candidate for Secretary of Defense, attends the inauguration before Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on the Western Front of the United States Capitol on Wednesday, January 20, 2021.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Appeal, Inc. | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – The Senate confirmed Lloyd Austin as the next Pentagon chief on Friday, making him the country’s first black defense secretary.
The Senate voted 93-2 to confirm Austin.
Austin’s confirmation follows Senate confirmation Wednesday of Avril Haines, who became the first woman of the leading country’s 18 intelligence agencies as director of national intelligence.
On Thursday, in back-to-back votes, the House and Senate passed legislation granting Austin, a retired four-star general, a waiver to lead the Pentagon. The Senate approved Austin’s waiver by a vote of 69-27 and the House approved the waiver by a vote of 326 to 78.
Under the National Security Act of 1947, Congress prohibited anyone from serving as Secretary of Defense within seven years of active service. Austin left the military in 2016 and therefore demanded a special waiver from Congress in order to circumvent the seven-year rule.
Former President Donald Trump’s First Secretary of Defense James Mattis, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, also needed the same waiver from Congress.
Before becoming the 28th Secretary of Defense, Austin was a member of the board of directors of defense giant Raytheon. Trump’s former Pentagon chiefs Mattis, Mark Esper and Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan also had ties to defense titans General Dynamics, Raytheon and Boeing.
The West Point graduate in 1975 would be the first black leader of the Pentagon, breaking down one of the most enduring barriers in the US government.
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