All those questions are expected to make the decorated 40-year Army veteran's confirmation hearing a challenge. Neither the President-elect, the vice president-elect nor Austin took any questions from the media during Wednesday's appearance. "A good secretary of defense also needs to steer the organization in the right direction: great-power competition with China . Austin will face challenges inside the Pentagon as well, where analysts say he would inherit an institution strained by politicization under Trump. The President has gone through six acting or confirmed defense secretaries in four years, recently fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper and followed up by ousting other senior officials and replacing them with political loyalists.

Source: CNN December 10, 2020 22:07 UTC