New Pentagon chief is a veteran of the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

The new head of the US defence department has become the first to get the Senate's approval to officially take up his post and assume his senior leadership role in President Joe Biden's administration. The official swearing-in ceremony was held on Monday, 25 January, before Vice President Kamala Harris. 

General Lloyd J. Austin III has become the first African American to head the Department of Defense after passing the Senate Armed Services Committee's mandatory questioning on January 19, which approved him by 93 votes to two Republicans' dissenting votes. In his hearing before the senators, he explained that he will shape his department, his actions and his strategy to deal with "China, the resurgence of Russia and the concerns of Iran in the Middle East and North Korea in the Indo-Pacific". 

The general retired from active duty more than four years ago and US law stipulates that at least seven years must pass before an officer can become secretary of defence, the equivalent of Spain's defence minister. The exemption is granted by the Senate, which has already happened with Marine Corps General Jim Mattis, who retired in March 2013 and in January 2017 became Donald Trump's first Secretary of Defence, a post from which he resigned in January 2019.  

After receiving final approval from the Senate on Friday 22 January, General Austin immediately went to the Pentagon to take the so-called "administrative oath" and chair a video conference with top military commanders, who briefed him on the impact of COVID-19 on the US Armed Forces, both at home and deployed around the world. 

That same Friday, he made his first international phone call from the Pentagon to the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, with whom the new Biden Administration and General Austin himself wish to maintain a close relationship of cooperation. 

The two leaders discussed "shared values, the current security environment" and the importance of maintaining "a strong deterrence and defence posture within NATO". They also discussed the ongoing missions in Afghanistan and Iraq and "further discussion of issues for the upcoming NATO Defence Ministerial", according to a statement from the Defence Department. 

One of the reasons President Joe Bien nominated him to serve as defence secretary was for him to become the architect of a major logistical operation "to help distribute COVID-19 vaccines broadly and equitably". The current occupant of the Oval Office has known General Austin since late August 2010, when he went to Baghdad to preside over the ceremony that ended Operation Iraqi Freedom and began the withdrawal of the 150,000 US troops in Iraq, the greatest logistical challenge in six decades. 

As Joe Biden said in explaining the reasons for his election, with the military veteran's participation in the federal government he intends to build a foreign policy that "revitalises" US alliances and puts "American leadership" on the table to confront global security threats, "from pandemics to climate change, from nuclear proliferation to the refugee crisis".

President Biden wrote: "I've spent countless hours with him, in the field and in the White House Situation Room". General Austin has an "intimate knowledge of the Department of Defense", with "extraordinary skill and profound personal decency. He is a true and tested soldier and leader".  

 Biden also wants the now Pentagon chief to ensure that all 1.3 million men and women in the Department of Defense are treated "with dignity and respect", which extends to African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, women and those of different sexual inclinations - more than 43 percent of the total. The President has already signed the Executive Order cancelling the ban on transgender people joining the Armed Forces. 

In a letter to the military and civilians in his department, General Austin has stressed that “my job as Secretary of Defense is to make you more effective at doing yours”. Ensuring they had “the tools, technology, weapons, and training” to deter and defeat America’s enemies," he said. “It means establishing sound policy and strategy and assigning you clear missions. It means putting a premium on cooperation with our allies and partners. And it means "living up to our core values, the same ones our fellow citizens expect of us”, he concluded. 

The 67-year-old Austin, of stocky build and nearly six feet tall, trained as an infantry officer at the West Point Military Academy, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1975, equivalent to an ensign in the Spanish Army. With nearly 41 years of active service, he has commanded armoured and mountain units, but above all parachute troops. Appointed 2nd Chief of Staff of the Army in January 2012, he took executive command of the US Force in Iraq in March 2013,   

His last posting until his retirement from active duty in April 2016 was Commander-in-Chief of Central Command (CENTCOM), the Pentagon's most important combat organisation. With full responsibility for US forces in Asia and the Middle East, he designed and executed the campaign against the threat posed by Islamic State terrorists and war operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria, while helping to build an allied coalition of more than 70 countries.

"With a calm demeanour and great command skills that instilled confidence in his subordinates and troops," say those who know him, he left the army with a brilliant record of service. President Barack Obama himself issued a statement at the time, noting that he had relied on his "wise judgment and steadfast leadership" during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the campaign to counter Islamic State. 

According to the general himself, in his first posting he learned the importance of leading from the front lines. In his farewell remarks, he alluded to the lessons he learned from Sergeant "Fox" Ballard, a veteran non-commissioned officer who had served in the Vietnam War and was a member of his Infantry Section. He recalled the sergeant telling him that he should worry about "one thing and one thing only". He advised him to take care of his soldiers, get in front of them and lead them. "If you do that, they will do what you ask them to do and they will follow you anywhere," words that he says have "guided him throughout his military career". 

The first African American military officer to assume a very high-ranking federal post was Army General Collin Powell. But it was not to take charge of the Pentagon but to be appointed Secretary of State - similar to Spain's foreign minister - during George W. Bush's first term in office (2001-2005).