House panel faults defense chief for secret hospital stay
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin faced pointed bipartisan criticism at a congressional hearing Thursday for his failure to promptly notify President Joe Biden and other U.S. leaders about his hospital stay in January. Republicans demanded to know why no one has been disciplined.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee condemned the lapse as an embarrassment and a failure of his leadership. They said the fact that Biden was kept in the dark about Austin not being in command for days could have meant confusion or delays in military action, even though decision-making authorities had been transferred to the deputy defense secretary.
Austin insisted there were no gaps in control of the department or the nation’s security because “at all times, either I or the deputy secretary was in a position to conduct the duties of my office.” He said changes have been made to the notification process.
Many Democrats also expressed concerns about Austin’s lack of transparency about his hospitalization for complications from prostate cancer surgery. But some also used the hearing to criticize House Republicans, who hold a slim majority, for not passing a budget or addressing critical national security needs.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., denounced the “outrage and drama” from committee members as she said Austin has admitted making an error, apologized and taken action to prevent a repeat. She implored colleagues to focus on “the things that are actually important to national security,” such as threats from Russia and China. Nonetheless, there was general agreement that he and his staff bungled notifications.
“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,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, the committee chairman, adding that wars were raging in Ukraine and Israel at the time. “The chain of command doesn’t work when the commander in chief doesn’t know who to call.”
Lawmakers pointed out that any employee who failed to notify their superior about an absence would typically face punishment.
Austin said he took full responsibility, but also said he did not tell his staff to keep it a secret. At times he appeared to blame his staff.
“I was the patient and so my expectation is that the organization informed the right agencies,” Austin said when asked why it took four days to inform the White House that he was hospitalized. The Cabinet member said his public affairs staff knew he was hospitalized, but he did not know why they did not tell anyone or if they made a decision not to inform the public.
Austin went to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for surgery Dec. 22. On Jan. 1, he returned after being in pain. Pentagon officials acknowledged that public affairs and defense aides were told Jan. 2 of the hospitalization but did not make it public and did not tell military leaders or the National Security Council until Jan. 4.