Lloyd Austin, former Fort Drum commander, confirmed as first Black Defense Secretary
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Retired General Lloyd Austin smiles as he testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his conformation hearing to be the next Secretary of Defense in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, on January 19, 2021. (Photo by Greg Nash / POOL / AFP) (Photo by GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate voted 93-to-2 to confirm Lloyd Austin, a former Fort Drum commander, as the first Black Secretary of Defense Friday.
Austin is Biden s second Cabinet official to be confirmed and he was approved by Congress with bipartisan support. Before his confirmation vote, Austin had to get a waiver from Congress to hold the office because he retired from the military less than seven years ago, a window intended to maintain civilian control of the Pentagon.
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Authorities have identified the three soldiers killed Wednesday night when the military helicopter they were flying crashed in a Mendon field.
Killed were National Guard soldiers Chief Warrant Officer 5 Steven Skoda, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Christian Koch and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Daniel Prial, according to Col. Richard Goldenberg, public affairs officer for the New York National Guard. These soldiers were a part of our National Guard family and we mourn their loss, alongside their family members and loved ones, he said in a news release Friday morning.
The New York Army National Guard UH-60 medical evacuation helicopter crashed while on a routine training mission just after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. It was not immediately known what caused the crash.
The Fayetteville Observer
The Senate on Friday confirmed Lloyd Austin as the nation s first Black defense secretary, the second nominee of President Joe Biden to be confirmed by the chamber.
Austin is a retired four-star Army general and former Fort Bragg commander who will be the first Black secretary of defense. He was the first Black general to command an Army division in combat and also the first to oversee an entire theater of operations as the commanding general of U.S. forces in Iraq.
He is a 1975 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served 41 years in uniform.
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Retired four-star U.S. general Lloyd Austin has made history Friday by becoming America s first Black secretary of defense.
President Biden s nomination of Austin, who retired from the Army in 2016 after 41 years of service, was confirmed by the Senate in a 93-2 vote. Austin has had a long-standing relationship with Biden as he served as commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq during President Obama’s first term in office. But Austin’s path to secretary of defense had been met with opposition from within Biden’s own Democratic Party over concerns about installing a military figure in a position traditionally reserved for civilians.
The United States Senate has confirmed President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of defence, retired Army General Lloyd Austin, making him the first African American to hold the top Pentagon position.
Austin gained broad support from Republicans and Democrats alike in the Senate, winning confirmation by a 93-2 vote.
“General Austin is an exceptionally qualified leader with a long and distinguished career in the United States military,” said Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
Austin will take charge of the US Department of Defense “at a time when US strategic priorities have shifted to focus increasingly on near-peer competition with China and Russia”, Reed said.