Weapons industry bad resume for defense post

The main rap on Lloyd Austin being picked for Defense Secretary is its violation of the seven year requirement from his serving in the military. Civilian oversight of Defense is a hallowed American tradition to prevent military favoritism from dictating defense policy. Four years retired as four star general and Iraq war commander, Austin requires a congressional waiver from the seven year requirement to lead the Defense Department. That used to be rare but isn’t; a waiver was granted in 2017 to allow Trump’s pick, recently retired general Jim Mattis, to serve. The only other exception was retired general George Marshall 67 years earlier.

While Austin will get his waiver, the bigger problem with his selection is his ties to America’s gargantuan weapons industry. Austin retired at 63 with a quarter million dollar yearly pension. That didn’t dissuade him from doing what most other retired military big shots do; embark on a lucrative career shilling for defense industry giants gobbling up American treasure for weapons of senseless war. He opened up his own consulting firm to advise defense contractors which levers of power to pull for additional weapons billions. Then he joined the board of Raytheon Technologies, a hundred billion dollar weapons behemoth. Austin’s confirmation would make him the second Defense chief in a row tied to Raytheon. Recently fired Mark Esper previously served not only in the military like Austin, but as Vice President of Governmental Relations for Raytheon.

Congress just passed a mammoth $740 billion defense budget, the NDAA, with a veto proof majority. But economic relief to a populous dying from covid at 3,000 daily and losing work by the millions is shunned as if such relief is the virus itself. Meanwhile guys like Austin and Esper, make a fortune peddling weaponry before ensuring that the spigot of such carnage flows steadily as top dog at Defense.