Ukraine & More from Wash Post

[marsean]

Six days before the invasion of Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took a final crack at getting his Russian counterpart to admit that the Kremlin was about to launch a massive assault after assembling more than 100,000 troops at the border with its neighbor.

“I know what you’re doing,” Austin told Sergei Shoigu in an icy, deep baritone.

It was Feb. 18, and Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, had been trying to convince Austin, who was visiting Poland at the time, that the buildup of Russian forces to the north and east of Ukraine was only for routine military exercises. Austin didn’t buy it. He had seen the intelligence, and while he had yet to convince every NATO member of the inevitability of a full-scale Russian invasion, the Pentagon chief was certain of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions.

The tense, last phone call between the two top defense officials — described by people familiar with how it unfolded — was among numerous actions that Austin took in the run-up to the Ukraine war, both to warn Russia and to prepare NATO for what was to come, officials said.

Austin’s blunt, forceful manner with Shoigu, and his near daily engagement with allied defense officials, stands in sharp contrast to his public image in Washington as a taciturn, sometimes silent partner on President Biden’s national security team who serves in the shadow of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and CIA Director William J. Burns.

Austin appears content with a backstage role.

“He wants to succeed in this job,” said retired Adm. Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who stays in touch with the Pentagon chief. “But he’s not really concerned about focusing on his legacy. It will be whatever his legacy will be, so he’s not going to burnish that up front, or try to.”

As Ukraine war drags on, Pentagon makes long-term plans for Europe
This portrait of the defense secretary is based on interviews with 15 current and former government officials, some of whom have known Austin for years. Some spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive issues. Austin, through a spokesman, declined to be interviewed.

Austin has faced criticism that he didn’t argue forcefully enough to get large quantities of arms to Kyiv until Russia was already crossing the border — and that his guarded approach to public advocacy could have been a factor in Washington’s reluctance to flood Ukraine with arms before the invasion.

The response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has been “necessary but not sufficient,” said Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), an Army veteran on the House Armed Services Committee, in an interview. “What we’re doing is certainly better than nothing — but it’s often been too little, too late.”

The Ukrainians, Waltz said, would have been better off if the United States had sent more weaponry before Russia’s invasion, rather than rapidly expanding deliveries afterward.

“Where Austin stood in that,” Waltz added, “I don’t know.”

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to discuss the military's budget for fiscal 2023.
© Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to discuss the military's budget for fiscal 2023.
The surprising choice

Austin seemed an unlikely pick for the top civilian position at the Pentagon — and not only because he was a retired four-star general assuming a role that many in Congress didn’t want to go to someone who had just been in uniform.

Retired generals were supposed to spend seven years as a civilian before they could be considered for defense secretary. Lawmakers had legislated an exception for retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, President Donald Trump’s choice, and prominent Democrats didn’t want to repeat the exercise. Austin, the former head of U.S. Central Command who oversaw military operations in the Middle East, had another apparent deficit: a discomfort with the public-facing parts of the job, including appearing before Congress and dealing with the news media.

Austin, however, had personal and professional connections with Biden. The general — a devout Catholic — had attended Mass with Biden’s son Beau when the two were stationed in Iraq. Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wanted to pivot the country to a diplomacy-first model and did not want a swashbuckling secretary at the Pentagon. Austin, 68, could be trusted to provide counsel without upstaging his boss, officials said.


The biggest misconception about Austin is that because he is not “flashy or bombastic in public,” he is not a dynamic player in the administration, said Sullivan, the national security adviser. Austin offers Biden his unvarnished advice, Sullivan said, and does not muzzle his disagreements during weekly meetings with Sullivan and Blinken, a longtime Biden confidant, to hash out issues.

President Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at a White House meeting on April 20.
© Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post
President Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at a White House meeting on April 20.
Two crises
Within weeks of taking office, Biden set out to follow through on a campaign promise: Ending the U.S. war in Afghanistan after 20 years. The administration deliberated on the issue for months, with senior Pentagon officials — including Austin — advising Biden that it would be wise to leave behind a force of a few thousand troops.

With Biden adamant on the issue, Austin held his tongue in public, frustrating U.S. military officials who wanted him to speak up more on behalf of the position of military leaders. Biden announced last April that he would pull all U.S. troops within a matter of months, promising an “orderly withdrawal” even as an ascendant Taliban battered Afghan forces.

“But at the end of the day, he is the secretary of defense — and it’s his responsibility to ensure an operation’s success,” Moulton said.

Republicans are harsher in their critiques.

“This was a moment worth pushing back as hard as possible, to the point of doing what Secretary Mattis did during the Syria context and offering to resign if the plan was executed,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), a Marine Corps veteran who sits on the same panel. “If he was pushing back, clearly he was not successful in convincing the president.”

Officials said that the crisis in Afghanistan prompted Austin and his team to adopt a crisis-management mind-set during the summer of 2021, typically meeting both morning and evening on the third floor of the Pentagon to manage the exit. Weeks later, Austin brought the meetings back as the possibility of a Russian invasion emerged.

In October, Austin punctuated that work by making the first trip by a Biden administration Cabinet official to Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and declared that U.S. support for Ukrainian sovereignty was “unwavering.”

Stoltenberg said that Austin’s “wealth of experience” and his knowledge of what was needed “makes others listen to him when he speaks.” Another NATO official said that he speaks with gravitas punctuated with a “James Earl Jones” voice.

“He doesn’t lecture the allies,” the NATO official said, “but he knows how to put his thumb on the scale to get results.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin waits for a meeting with Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the Pentagon on April 21.
© Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin waits for a meeting with Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the Pentagon on April 21.
A deal emerges

“Why don’t we have an answer?” he asked during a video conference April 1. When military officials said that it would take another two or three days to complete, Austin was not satisfied.

“We need to have it tomorrow,” he said flatly.

The following Monday, the United States informed Slovakia that it would be getting a fully-manned Patriot battery deployed as soon as it wanted it. The Slovaks announced the S-300 was on its way into Ukraine, and Austin monitored its delivery, defense officials said.

“He’s not a leader who leads by fear; he’s a leader who leads by inspiration and motivation and just the quiet confidence he has in his team,” Wallander said. “He really brings the team along, and I’ve seen him be effective in that instance of Slovakia and other places.”

Sullivan said the Pentagon chief has pushed other ministers of defense “outside their comfort zones” to seal weapons transfers that have had “enormous” impact in Ukraine. Austin keeps a color-code chart tracking weapons shipments into the war zone, and keeps the president up to date with it, Sullivan added.

[Drporndagger]

I hope Ukraine wins out. This Putin bullshit is another Adolf Hitler moment.

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