If reports Tuesday morning are true and Joe Biden will soon name retired Gen. Lloyd Austin to be secretary of defense, then Austin will become the third civilian Pentagon chief in history to require a waiver from Congress because of his background as a career military officer.
Under the National Security Act of 1947, a uniformed military officer cannot be nominated for secretary of defense unless he has been out of uniform for ten years (amended to seven years in 2008).
Austin, 67, former head of U.S. Central Command and onetime U.S. Army vice chief of staff, has been retired from the Army for four years and thus requires the waiver.
The first defense secretary choice to require the waiver was George C. Marshall, retired general and onetime Army chief of staff, who was named to the Pentagon position by President Truman in 1950.
The waiver passed the Senate by 47 to 21 and the House by 220-105.
The second to require and get a waiver from Congress was retired U.S. Marine Corps General James Mattis, appointed secretary of defense by President Trump in 2016.
The waiver for Mattis passed the Senate by 81-17 and the House by 258 to 151.
According to retired Army Gen. Robert Scales, former commandant of the Army War College, “[T]his had more to do with concerns a former general might be too cozy with those on active duty than any worry about a loss of civilian control of the military.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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