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US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin III has honoured US President Joe Biden as a “stalwart defender of free government, fearless foe of tyranny and historic champion” following an announcement that he will not stand for re-election.
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US President Biden recently announced that he would end his candidacy for re-election in the November US presidential elections, in a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter) earlier this week.
America has the strongest economy in the world; it has made historic investments in rebuilding the nation and has never been better positioned to lead, according to the statement published by US President Biden.
In addition, he said it was in the best interest of the party and country to stand down from re-election and to focus solely on his duties as President for the remainder of the term.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin III, in a public statement on 21 July, said President Biden is an extraordinary guardian of America’s national security with a secure place in American history as one of the nation’s great foreign-policy presidents.
“As Commander-in-Chief, President Biden has shown his profound and personal commitment to the Department of Defense and the American military,” Austin III said.
“Under his leadership, the most recent National Defense Authorisation Act supports a historic $841 billion in funding for the Department of Defense – and helps ensure that the US military will remain the strongest fighting force on Earth.
“President Biden renewed, deepened, and broadened the unmatched global network of alliances and partnerships that makes America more secure; he rallied the world to defend Ukraine after the Kremlin’s indefensible, all-out invasion in 2022; he positioned America to succeed in our strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China; he dramatically strengthened US posture in the Indo-Pacific; he bolstered, united, and expanded NATO; he shored up Israel’s security after Hamas’s vile October 7th terrorist assault and worked tirelessly to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza; he ended America’s longest war; he helped the United States and the world recover from the COVID pandemic that killed more than a million Americans; he launched the historic trilateral AUKUS partnership to make the Indo-Pacific region more secure; and at a time when autocrats brag of being the wave of the future, he showed the world the resilience and the resolve that only a democracy can muster.
“President Biden has been a stalwart defender of free government, a fearless foe of tyranny, and a historic champion of an open world of rules, rights, and responsibilities.
“President Biden has always understood that America’s greatest strategic advantage is our people, and he has sought to make America even stronger and more secure by drawing on the full talents of all of our citizenry. He has made history by breaking barrier after barrier, including appointing Kathleen Hicks as the first female Deputy Secretary of Defense, Christine Wormuth as the first female Secretary of the Army, Admiral Lisa Franchetti as the first female Chief of Naval Operations and the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and myself as the first Black Secretary of Defense.
“President Biden cares deeply about our outstanding all-volunteer force and has insisted on making life easier for them and their families, including securing significant pay raises for our troops. President Biden always ends his speeches by saying, ‘God bless our troops’ – and we know that he means every word, every time.
“President Biden has repeatedly declared, ‘We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.’ Today, he has done just that.
“The entire Department of Defense stands united today in saluting President Biden’s service to the country that we defend, the constitution that we revere, and the republic that we love.”
