US President Joe Biden was informed only after three and a half days that Lloyd J. Austin III, the secretary of Defense (the equivalent of one of our ministers) of his government, was hospitalized for complications following an operation. The Pentagon (the US Ministry of Defense) was aware of the hospitalization, which occurred on January 1st at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, but only let Biden know when Austin was transferred to intensive care.
It is an extraordinary violation of protocol, given that Austin is in charge of 1.4 million active US soldiers, moreover at a time when two wars such as those in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip are underway. Austin, who is 70 and remains hospitalized, said he takes “full responsibility” for what happened, writing in a statement: “I recognize that I could have done better to ensure that the public was adequately informed. I am committed to doing better.”
The Pentagon has yet to provide further details on the health of Austin, who is in hospital but “recovering well,” a spokesperson said. However, it will probably have to be clarified whether or not he has lost consciousness in recent days, which would evidently make the failure to notify Biden even more serious. But the issue has become a political case, at a time when the presidential election campaign to be held in November is starting to come into full swing, with Biden having stepped up his attacks against his likely opponent, former President Donald Trump.
Second Associated Press, in addition to Biden, the other members of the administration who should have known, from the National Security Council to Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor, did not know about Austin’s hospitalization. It is not known when the news reached the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the body that brings together the generals at the head of the various divisions of the US armed forces, nor to several important members of Austin’s staff. Many at the Pentagon learned of the hospitalization when the news came out in the press, and thought the secretary was on vacation.
“The secretary of defense is the critical link between the president and the military, including in the nuclear chain of command, when major decisions must be made within minutes,” said Republican Senator Tom Cotton. member of the Armed Forces Committee. “If this reconstruction is true, there must be consequences for this shocking mistake.”
Austin is a retired general who has served in the Army since the 1970s. Prior to his appointment as Secretary of Defense, he served as Commander of United States Central Command and overall commander in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is notoriously a reserved man, and has not held a press conference with journalists for over a year. The association of reporters who cover the Pentagon also complained about the story, writing in a statement that «the citizenry has the right to know when members of the US government are hospitalized, or under anesthesia, or when their roles are delegated to others for medical reasons”.
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico when Austin was hospitalized, and the department said she has temporarily taken over Austin’s duties in recent days. Furthermore, on Thursday, while Austin was in hospital, the United States carried out a targeted bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, to kill the leader of a militia that the Pentagon says is responsible for some recent attacks on American soldiers in the region. As of Friday evening, the Pentagon said, Austin had fully resumed his duties.