WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 16: Gen. Lloyd Austin III, commander of U.S. Central Command, prepares to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee about the ongoing U.S.
military operations to counter the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (IS WASHINGTON - President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J.
Austin to be secretary of defense, according to three people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon.Biden selected Austin over the longtime front-runner candidate, Michele Flournoy, a former senior Pentagon official and Biden supporter who would have been the first woman to serve as defense secretary.