Austin Waiver On the Line, Biden Presses Case For Former General

WASHINGTON: Looking to placate unhappy Democrats on Capitol Hill, President-elect Joe Biden and his nominee for Defense Secretary repeatedly extolled their commitment to strong civilian control of the military today, part of an opening salvo to win a congressional waiver for retired general Lloyd Austin to serve. 

“I come to this new role as a civilian leader with military experience to be sure, but also with a deep appreciation and reverence for the prevailing wisdom of civilian control of our military,” Austin said at a rollout event in Delaware.

His remarks closely tracked those of Biden, who underscored several times he was a deep believer in civilian control of the military as he sought to counter congressional opposition to another recently retired general running the Pentagon.  

“I would not be asking for this exception if I did not believe this moment in our history didn’t call for it — it does call for it — and if I didn’t have the faith I have in Lloyd Austin to ask for it,” Biden said.

The right words to be sure, but in the wake of a campaign where foreign policy often took a back seat to the COVID pandemic and its effect on the economy, the broad contours of the Biden national security agenda remain unclear. A pre-inaguation hearing in front of the House Armed Services Committee where Austin will have to explain why he should get the waiver will likely be the first time questions can be put to the Biden team for specifics, a moment Democrats and Republicans likely relish.

The law requires a retired officer to wait seven years before becoming Defense Secretary, unless Congress votes on a waiver of the rule.

Today’s speeches by Biden and Austin, while long on promises of regular order and civilian-led decision making process, did nothing to preview what a Biden foreign policy might look like. They also didn’t address concerns that Austin, who spent years in the Middle East fighting insurgencies, is ill-prepared to manage US military relations with China or modernize the armed forces as part of the emerging race to develop technologies like hypersonic weapons, satellites, lasers, and a rapid buildup of the Navy.

Jim Mattis, who received a waiver to become SecDef in 2016, wasn’t required to attend a pre-nomination hearing. At the time many lawmakers saw him as a bulwark against an unpredictable President Trump and many leapt at the chance to allow a known quantity — Mattis — to run the Pentagon.

That 2016 vote saw the Senate approving Mattis’s waiver 81-17, with 16 Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders voting against it. The House vote was closer, 268-151, with 36 Democrats supporting it.

While Mattis received the waiver, his ties to military leaders and so many of his staff having come from the military, led to a perception that the norm of a truly civilian-led Pentagon had eroded under Trump. Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, hasn’t helped the perception, since he only retired from the Army in 2014, placing him below the seven-year threshold requiring a waiver. Of course, since Miller was not nominated to serve, he did not need to receive a waiver.

Austin swiped at this in his comments, saying he will “look forward to surrounding myself with experienced, capable civilian appointees and career civil servants who will enable healthy civil-military relations grounded in meaningful civilian oversight.”

Biden made it a point today to make clear that civilians in the White House, and career civilian defense officials at the Pentagon, will run the show.

“The civil-military dynamic has been under great stress these past four years, and I know that Secretary-designate Austin will work tirelessly to get it back on track,” Biden said. “He will be bolstered by strong and empowered civilian senior officials working to shape DoD’s policies and ensure that our defense policies are accountable to the American people.”