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Today, I voted in favor of the waiver for Lloyd Austin. I was initially skeptical of putting a second recently-retired four-star general in charge of the Pentagon, which, having served there myself for seven years, works as designed when civilians oversee major defense decisions.
My concerns were never personal: I have deep respect for Secretary-designate Austin. We have worked together, particularly on countering ISIS, for a good part of the last decade.
Without a doubt, Secretary-designate Austin had an incredible military career, and his nomination is a truly historic and important one given where we are as a nation.
But after four years of erosion in civil-military relations, it was important to me to understand exactly how Austin would commit to restoring and preserving the principle of civilian control of the military, which is essential to our Republic.
On December 18, I led a letter, signed by five of my colleagues, where we asked for six commitments from Secretary-designate Austin to preserve a strong civilian voice in the leadership of the Department. http://bit.ly/2Kz9jrY
I was pleased that he met with me and a small group of lawmakers last week to discuss them further. https://bit.ly/395B0Cl
Between this meeting, his SASC testimony and, most importantly, the two-hour meeting he had with the HASC today, I feel satisfied that he intends to rebalance civilian control of the military, and is willing to be held accountable for these commitments.
In these remarkable times, and with unprecedented threats facing our country both at home and abroad, I have voted in support of a waiver for Lloyd Austin to allow his confirmation as Secretary of Defense.
