General (Mr.) Austin might manage an even more extensive mil-com chokehold on the US Government and economy
Sorry, Gen. Lloyd Austin. A Recently Retired General Should Not Be Secretary of Defense.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/opinion/biden-defense-secretary-dod.html
Commander-in-Chief and General Eisenhower warned about the military-industrial complex, a pretty good precedent for General Austin to manage an even more extensive chokehold on the US Government and economy.
Civilian heads of DoD are hardly immune to influence by the mil-com leviathan, indeed quite a few were beholden to it. At pay grades above DefSec national security orders and directives are prepared by civilians at the White House, State Department, Congress, Supreme Court, lobbyists, opinionators, media, scholars, the gamut of civilian control might makes military right to fight.
No question, nonetheless, that civilian control of the military is salutary for a democracy so long as the presidency is not employed as a monarchical autocracy. Indeed, resisting autocracy is a prime duty of the military and it may take a military-grade official to see that duty fulfilled.
Afterwards of putting down an autocratic takeover, to return to an obedient follower of a civilian head of government.
General Austin, best retitled Mr. Austin, will have to answer questions of elected civilian officials, some of whom are hardly free of mil-com influence, and would it not be his highest service to the country to emulate Mr. Eisenhower in updating the warning of what powerful cartel most threatens US democracy under the disguise of national security?