Thoughts on new Secretary of Defense? This could be a very key position in light of things occurring both at home and abroad. Retired 4 star Army general, first black guy for thus position I believe, formerly employed at top defense contractor company and seems to be very partisan choice... people on both sides have opinions on this pick. That part actually makes me wonder if there is something to it and perhaps this guy could be a decent choice.
Thoughts?
I'll copy and paste from article..
Austin has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill and outlining his views to bolster civilian control with skeptical lawmakers.
Lloyd Austin, the nominee to be the next defense secretary, promised on Tuesday to reinvigorate the principle of civilian control of the military amid bipartisan concerns over installing a recently retired general at the head of the Pentagon for the second time in four years.
The retired Army four-star also pledged to recuse himself from matters involving defense contractor Raytheon Technologies, where he was a board member, for four full years. And Austin vowed to quickly review the Pentagon's pandemic relief efforts if confirmed and to combat extremism in the ranks...
In the wake of the riot, lawmakers have pressed defense and military leaders to address extremism in the ranks after multiple former military personnel were found to have taken part. Austin pledged on Tuesday to fight to "stamp out" racism, extremism and sexual assault in the military.
"We also owe our people a working environment free of discrimination, hate and harassment," he said. "The job of the Department of Defense is to keep America safe from our enemies. But we can’t do that if some of those enemies lie within our own ranks."
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