Germany Honors Biden’s Defense Chief as Hegseth Changes Pentagon

Germany awarded its highest honor to former US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, praising a former Biden administration official whose legacy has been upended by his successor, Pete Hegseth.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius presented Austin the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on Wednesday night. A ministry statement said that thanks to Austin’s personal commitment, “relations at the security policy level were more trusting than they had been in a long time.”