Lloyd Austin

Lloyd Austin is the first black Secretary of Defense in U.S. history, confirmed officially by the Senate under the Biden Administration on January 22, 2021.

During his hearing, Austin said, “I know that being a member of the president’s Cabinet—a political appointee—requires a different perspective and unique duties from a career in uniform. So, if confirmed, you can expect me to empower my civilian staff. ... I will also take seriously the many challenges facing our country, the most immediate of which, in my view, is the pandemic."

A lot of his early efforts are heavily damage control-focused, as Austin recently reaffirmed Biden’s necessary repeal of Trump’s Transgender Military Ban on January 25th.  Austin faces a particularly daunting task in the wake of Trump’s Jan. 6th insurrection attempt:  restoring civilian control of the military so that no future president can attempt to commandeer the Oval Office by asserting total control while exiting.

Before Austin accepted the position under President Biden, he spent 40 years of his life serving the military before retiring as a 4-star Army general and 12th Commander of United States Central Command from 2013 to 2016.