Surprise pick for SecDef...

This nomination is historic, but I had hoped the idea of recently retired 4 stars serving as SECDEF was a Trump administration anomaly, not the new normal. Not healthy for civil-military relations, no matter who the person is. https://t.co/vNiCTGoUcq

— ProfTalmadge (@ProfTalmadge) December 8, 2020

I read that this guy had moved into the favored position but I also knew that many insiders were hoping for Michele Flournoy to get the job.

Don't get me wrong.  Austin is a "conservative" pick.  He (speaking frankly) won't rock the boat and falls in line with the standard thinking in the Pentagon.  Forward deployments forever.  Partnerships.  Small wars forever.  Think along the lines of the Bush-Obama foreign policy (I personally see no distinction in our foreign relations during that time with the exception of an attempt at warming relations with Iran during Obama's term, but the beltway was gonna kill that regardless).

The funny thing?

In my opinion what really killed Flournoy's chances was the vast number of women appointed to positions before he got around to defense.

The Biden admin is "woman heavy" and that made it easy to go a different way with defense.  Sadly politics is sprinkled heavily in these appointments (as is usual) and the best are once again being left on the sidelines.