Pentagon waited three days to inform White House that the defense secretary was hospitalized in ICU
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
WASHINGTON — Amid tensions in the Middle East, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was hospitalized, including spending four days in the intensive care unit, according to two senior administration officials.
The Pentagon did not inform senior officials in the White House’s National Security Council of Austin’s hospitalization until Thursday — three days after he arrived at Walter Reed Medical Center, a U.S. official confirms. Politico first reported the delay.
Austin released a statement Saturday taking responsibility for not disclosing his condition sooner.
"I am very glad to be on the mend and look forward to returning to the Pentagon soon. I also understand the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better," Austin said. "But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”
Austin was not able to perform his duties since New Year's Day, a senior defense official said Friday. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told NBC News that Austin “resumed his full duties” on Friday evening.
Austin remained hospitalized Saturday. It was unclear when he would be released, the source said. Details about what ailed him were unavailable.
Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday night for “complications following a recent elective medical procedure,” Ryder said in a statement Friday evening.
Pentagon officials will not disclose what the procedure was or when it occurred. They also refuse to provide any details about how serious Austin’s condition was this week.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who was on leave, has picked up his duties, the senior defense official said.
Hicks was on pre-scheduled leave when Austin was hospitalized this week, according to a defense official. She has been on vacation in Puerto Rico, the official said.
She “has maintained full communication with the DOD staff throughout,” the official said. “She has monitored DOD’s day-to-day operations and conducted some routine business.”
The third in line among Pentagon civilian leadership, the office of the under secretary of defense for policy, is occupied temporarily as an acting position because nominee Derek Chollet has not been confirmed by the U.S. Senate, the source said. Sasha Baker has been acting in the role since last summer.
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What kind of a clown show is Biden running? With American troops under attack on an almost daily basis the Secretary of Defense disappears in the hospital and doesn't tell the President or anyone at the white house anything for three days, while delegating his authority to someone on vacation. How can he possibly keep his job?
American troops under attack is "routine business" for this administration.
"Don't piss Iran off" is their over riding motto.
Austin was hospitalized back on the 1st and is still there. The Pentagon is not providing any information on what is going on.
With today's standard of medical care one has to wonder what the hell is going on that he's still hospitalized.
It’s crazy. They launched a retaliatory drone strike on the third without anyone at the White House or NSC knowing the secretary of defense was incapacitated.
it’s one thing for buttegig to take of four months and nobody noticing, but this is a position that should actually matter.
The Pentagon is now explaining the reason why the White House was not notified that Austin was in the hospital since Jan 1, his chief of staff was out sick with the flu.
Sorry, I'm not buying that at all. The military is really big on chain of command and who to contact when the chain of command is broken. Do they really mean to tell us that because Austin himself was in the hospital and his Chief of Staff was out sick that nobody bothered to step up and notify anybody? I mean, WTF???
Agree, something isn’t right here. Neither the WH or his Dep knew that he was hospitalized until Thur, the day before they went public.
What kind of chain of command do we have now?
With all the modern instant communications we have, the President doesn't know the Secretary of Defense is in ICU ?
I don’t understand his negligence.
I do. There is zero accountability in the Brandon administration- and all of his staff and their underlings know it.
Brandon isn't the one in charge anyways. His handlers are; and they aren't the most competent bunch. They have to spend all their time hiding him from public; walking back his statements; and putting off their media lemmings. That doesn't leave them much time to account for things like where staff members are; and what they are doing.
It's called a shit show. They've fucked everything up since day 1.
And how were they able to do this? because the senile old fool has no idea what is going on in his administration.