On Thursday, US legislators chastised Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin severely for not telling the White House that he had been hospitalized earlier this year due to problems from cancer treatment. Republicans and Democrats alike voiced shock at the secrecy, but in the end, the House Armed Services Committee hearing did not provide much insight into the reasons behind the withholding of information from other senior officials. During the hearing, Republican chairman of the committee Representative Mike Rogers stated, “It’s totally unacceptable that it took three days to inform the president of the United States that the secretary of defense was in the hospital and not in control of the Pentagon.
There were wars going on in Israel and the Ukraine, our ships were being fired upon in the Red Sea, and our bases in Syria and Iraq were ready for an assault. However, Rogers stated, “the president was unaware that his secretary of defense was not in action.” The Democratic ranking member of the committee, Representative Adam Smith, stated that “we need clearer, more transparent information about what’s going on at the Pentagon” and that “the lack of transparency” should not be repeated. Although “there was never a break in command and control,” according to Austin, “what we didn’t do well was a notification of senior leaders.
Reiterating that he “never told anyone not to inform the president, White House, or anyone else about my hospitalization,” the Pentagon chief acknowledged that “we didn’t get this right.” On December 22, Austin, a 70-year-old career soldier, had minor surgery to treat the cancer. He went home the next day. However, on January 1, difficulties including nausea and excruciating pain forced him to be readmitted. Congress was not notified of Austin’s hospitalization until the next day, and President Joe Biden was not made aware of the cancer diagnosis until January 9. The White House was not notified of Austin’s hospitalization until January 4.
Leave a Reply