Editor's note: Thomas O. Falk is a London-based political analyst and commentator. He holds an MA in International Relations from The University of Birmingham and focusses on U.S. affairs. The article reflects the author's views, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

President-elect Joe Biden has picked Lloyd Austin as his Secretary of Defense. The ex-general would be the first African American to head the Pentagon. The choice is emblematic but wrong.

The silver lining that accompanied Joe Biden's presidential campaign was the promise not to be Donald Trump, to return to normality. Nevertheless, six weeks after the election, Biden is drawing parallels to the incumbent – albeit not in decorum.

Austin Lloyd's expertise is not in question or even up for debate. Few former servicemen can match the four-star general's forty-one years-long military resume, who led the U.S. Central Command between 2013 and 2016 and was the principal architect of the U.S.-led offensive against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

Moreover, the idea that for the first time, an African American could lead the Pentagon and command the 1,3 million US troops not only speak for Biden and his pledge to assemble a diverse cabinet. It would also serve as a message. A message that the county in which racial division remains high continues to take steps in the right direction. 

However, his expertise nor the noble cause of equality ought to bypass one core notion: The position of Secretary of Defense was expressively created for a civilian, not a man of the military. The potential for nepotism and the lack of checks and balances within the military warrants the latter.

It is one reason why the National Security Act of 1947 requires a prospective secretary to wait for seven years after ending active duty. Since Austin retired only four years ago, he will require a congressional waiver.

In the office's history, that waiver has been issued twice: In 1950 for General George Marshall and, most recently, General James Mattis, Donald Trump's Secretary of Defense.

Hence, Mattis was the topic of fierce debate. Democratic Senator Kirstin Gillibrand reminded and urged her colleagues on Capitol Hill that the influence of ex-military officers on the Pentagon ought to be limited: "Civilian control of our military is a fundamental principle of American democracy, and I will not vote for an exception to this rule," she said.

Nonetheless, Congress granted Mattis his waiver, as many regarded him a stabilizing voice of wisdom in a White House that was being occupied by a president with no geopolitical expertise, but the nuclear button in close proximity.

Most importantly, however, Mattis' waiver was supposed to be an exception, not a new rule.

In Biden's case, the competence argument does not apply. Several former experienced Obama appointees, such as Antony Blinken, have already joined his team. It has been a return of the adults, a goodbye to erratic Trumpism, and a hello to expertise and political aptitude. 

A waiver for Austin is thus not only inappropriate, but it threatens to erode the law that mandates civilian control of the Pentagon by setting a dubious precedent. 

Several Democrats have already voiced their opposition to a waiver. Amongst them, Senator Richard Blumenthal who acknowledged that Biden's choice was "exciting and historic," but added that he would "not support the waiver." Besides Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, Jon Tester, and Tammy Duckworth have announced their intention to vote against the waiver.  

The issue could be exacerbated by the party's progressive wing, who cannot be pleased about Austin's board membership at Raytheon, a U.S. defense contractor, who supplies Saudi Arabia for its operations in Yemen. Questions will undoubtedly be raised and they will not be helpful for reuniting a divided Democratic Party.

And then there are the Republicans, the vast majority of whom still have not even recognized Biden's election win, and who are inclined to make Biden's life even harder than they made Barack Obama's during his first term in office. 

Republican Senator Tom Cotton stated that he, like many other senators, had severe reservations about granting another waiver.

Austin's nomination is a high – and arguably unnecessary- risk at an early stage for Biden. 

For four years, Donald Trump conducted an exercise in putting norms to the test. If Joe Biden truly seeks a return to normality, to build back better, norms must again be preserved - including a civilian occupation of the Pentagon.

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