President-elect Joe Biden has selected retired Gen. Lloyd Austin, a current member of the Auburn University Board of Trustees, to serve as the secretary of defense, according to reporting by The New York Times.
If confirmed, Austin, who served in the U.S. military for nearly 41 years, will become the first Black person to be the secretary of defense. From 2013 to 2016, Austin was the commander of U.S. Central Command for a 20-country region that includes many Middle-Eastern nations.
Austin was born in Mobile, Alabama and spent much of his childhood in Georgia. In 1975, he earned a bachelor's degree from West Point, and in 1986, he earned a master's degree from Auburn University.
Austin retired from the U.S. Army as a 4-star general in 2016 and became a member of Auburn's Board of Trustees in 2017. He also currently sits on the board of Raytheon Technologies, one of the largest multinational aerospace and defense manufacturers.
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