Biden’s pick to lead the Pentagon has Georgia roots

ATLANTA — Joe Biden has nominated retired general Lloyd Austin to lead the Pentagon as defense secretary.

Both the House and Senate must approve a waiver to confirm Austin, because the law requires him to be out of uniform for 7 years. Austin retired in 2016.

But Austin has roots in southern Georgia.

“I was a general and a soldier. And I am proud of that. But today I also appear before you as a citizen, the son of a postal worker and a homemaker from Thomasville, Georgia. I am proud of that, too,” Austin said.

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Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon, a historic choice in a year that has seen racial unrest, protests and violence across the country.

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Austin is known for avoiding public remarks, even though he held a number of high-profile, critical military jobs. He was commander in Baghdad of the Multinational Corps-Iraq in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected president, and he returned to lead U.S. troops there from 2010 through 2011.

He then served as the first Black vice chief of staff of the Army, the service’s No. 2 position. And a year later he took command of U.S. Central Command, as the top American commander for the Middle East. There, he developed and began implementing a U.S. military strategy to roll back the Islamic State group, which was capturing territory across Iraq and Syria.

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