Yemeni homes destroyed
© Hani Mohammed/APYemeni homes destroyed by Saudi-led air strikes in Sana'a.
Meet General Lloyd Austin

President-elect Joe Biden is set to nominate retired Army general Lloyd Austin as Defense Secretary. After retiring from the military in 2016, Austin joined the board of Raytheon. The defense manufacturer has sold billions of dollars worth of weapons to the Saudi coalition that's been pummeling Yemen with bombs for years.

New York Times, earlier this year, reported:
"After the Yemen war began in 2015 and the Obama administration made a hasty decision to back the Saudis, Raytheon booked more than $3 billion in new bomb sales, according to an analysis of available U.S. government records. Intent on pushing the deals through, Raytheon followed the industry playbook: It took advantage of federal loopholes by sending former State Department officials, who were not required to be registered as lobbyists, to press their former colleagues to approve the sales."
Before joining Raytheon, Austin seemingly couldn't make heads or tails of the Yemen conflict. When it began he was the commander of CENTCOM. During a Committee on Armed Services hearing, he admitted that he didn't know what Saudi Arabia's goals were and couldn't say what success in the region would look like. Here's his exchange with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:
Sen. Gillibrand: What's your assessment of the likelihood of success?

General Austin: In Yemen?

Sen. Gillibrand: Yes.

General Austin: Again, Senator, I don't currently know the specific goals and objectives of the Saudi campaign. And I'd have to know that to be able to assess the likelihood of success.

Senator Gillibrand: Well, I do hope you get that information sooner than later, because, you know, more than $500 million in U.S. military assistance to Yemen can no longer be accounted for and has fallen into the wrong hands. We have a role in Yemen that we have to have much greater accountability for.
I'm guessing he has at least determined what Raytheon's objectives in the country are since this exchange.

The situation in Yemen is already considered the worst humanitarian crisis in the world by the United Nations, but the Trump administration is set to potentially make it even worse before leaving office. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo might designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization, making it even harder to get aid into Yemen. Oxfam America's Scott Paul told the Huffington Post:
"While the Biden administration can reverse this, the damage done in the interim will be deadly and will add a massive burden to the already overstretched response,"
It's unclear whether Biden will actually reverse course on Yemen, but the Austin pick shows that the war machine will continue to be led by the very people who have profited from it.