Alabama Native Lloyd Austin Biden's Pick For Defense Secretary

WASHINGTON, DC — President-elect Joe Biden has picked Alabama native and Auburn University alumnus Gen. Lloyd Austin to become the next Secretary of Defense, according to people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon.

The impending nomination of Austin was confirmed by four people with knowledge of the pick who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the selection hadn't been formally announced. Biden offered and Austin accepted the post on Sunday, according to a person familiar with the process.

As a career military officer, the 67-year-old Austin is likely to face opposition from some in Congress and in the defense establishment who believe in drawing a clear line between civilian and military leadership of the Pentagon. Although many previous defense secretaries have served briefly in the military, only two — George C. Marshall and James Mattis — have been career officers.

Born in Mobile, Austin is a 1975 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served 41 years in uniform. He earned a Master of Arts degree in counselor education from Auburn University's College of Education in 1986, and a Master of Business Administration in business management from Webster University in 1989. He is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses, the Army Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College.

Austin also served in 2012 as the first Black vice chief of staff of the Army, the service's No. 2-ranking position. A year later he assumed command of U.S. Central Command, where he fashioned and began implementing a U.S. military strategy for rolling back the Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Austin retired from the Army in 2016, and he would need a congressional waiver of the legal requirement that a former member of the military be out of uniform at least seven years before serving as secretary of defense. That waiver has been granted only twice — most recently in the case of Mattis, the retired Marine general who served as President Donald Trump's first Pentagon chief.

Sources close to Biden say that Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), who lost his re-election bid to the Senate in November, is a leading candidate to become Biden's attorney general. If Jones becomes AG, it would be the first time two Alabama natives were high-ranking members of the presidential cabinet.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.