POLITICS
NATIONAL SECURITY
Biden Didn’t Learn for Days That Pentagon Chief Was in Hospital
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin remains hospitalized but has resumed his full duties, officials say
By
Nancy A. Youssef and Michael R. Gordon
Updated Jan. 6, 2024 10:55 pm ET
(1 min)
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin remains at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for complications following an undisclosed medical procedure. PHOTO: VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA/REUTERS
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spent time in an intensive care unit after entering a military hospital on New Year’s Day, but President Biden wasn’t informed of his hospital stay for days, administration officials said Saturday.
Austin remains at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center but has now resumed his full responsibilities, the Pentagon said.
Biden spoke by phone with Austin on Saturday evening for the first time since he was hospitalized and expressed his “full confidence” in his defense chief, White House officials said.
But the question that consumed many officials in Washington on Saturday was why it took so long for the Pentagon to inform the commander-in-chief of the status of the cabinet official tasked with leading U.S. defense policy.
The Pentagon acknowledged publicly for the first time late Friday afternoon that Austin, 70 years old, has been hospitalized since Jan. 1 for complications following what it described as an “elective medical procedure.”
The National Security Council wasn’t informed about Austin’s condition until Thursday, a development earlier reported by Politico. At that point, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told Biden, a U.S. official said.
“The President was informed about Secretary Austin’s medical issue,” said a spokeswoman for the NSC in a statement. “He wishes the Secretary the very best in his recovery.”
The Pentagon’s delay in publicly acknowledging Austin’s hospitalization raises questions about Austin’s responsibility to notify Congress and the American public about his health. In addition to being in charge of U.S. defense policy at a time when the U.S. is facing challenges from Russia, Iran and China, the defense secretary is the sixth person in the line of presidential succession.
Austin in a statement late Saturday afternoon said he was “on the mend” and looking forward to returning to the Pentagon soon.
“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.”
Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks had the authority to make decisions, if required, the Pentagon said. PHOTO: ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Austin didn’t say what medical procedure he had undergone or address reports that he had spent time in an intensive care unit.
Austin’s actions raised concern on Capitol Hill.
“Worryingly, we now have more questions than answers,” Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “What role did the Secretary of Defense’s staff play? When exactly was the President notified? What justification did the Department have for withholding information from the National Security Council? To what extent was the Secretary incapacitated by his surgery?”
The Pentagon said that Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks had the authority to carry out decisions, if required, during Austin’s hospitalization, a period of intense activity in the Middle East, including Iran-backed militia attacks on U.S. forces and commercial shipping.
A U.S.- led coalition issued an ultimatum Wednesday to the Houthis to halt their strikes on shipping in the Red Sea.
U.S. officials say the decision to strike an Iran-backed militant in Baghdad on Thursday was made last year before Austin’s hospitalization.
Hicks was on previously scheduled personal travel in Puerto Rico throughout the week, defense officials said. The deputy secretary remained in Puerto Rico with secure communications and monitored the Pentagon’s “day-to-day operations and conducted some routine business,” a defense official said in a statement.
“The Secretary is recovering well and has resumed his full duties,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman. “As we have more information to provide, we’ll make it available.”
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NBC News was the first to report about Austin being in the military’s intensive care unit.
It has been customary in the past to make public statements about hospitalization of the president and other cabinet officials, including previous defense secretaries.
In 2008, the department disclosed on the same day that Defense Secretary Robert Gates had broken his arm after slipping on ice. When Donald Rumsfeld underwent elective shoulder surgery for a torn rotator cuff in 2006, Pentagon officials disclosed the operation that day and noted that he had briefly transferred power to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England.
The Pentagon didn’t notify lawmakers about Austin’s hospitalization until Friday around 5 p.m., two congressional aides said. That same day, the Pentagon also issued a short statement to the media about the hospitalization, and the expectation that the secretary would resume his full duties that day.
In a letter to the top Pentagon spokesman Friday, the Pentagon Press Association, which represents the concerns and interests of journalists who cover the Defense Department, called the decision to withhold the information for nearly a week “an outrage.”
“It falls far below the normal disclosure standards that are customary by other federal departments when senior officials undergo medical procedures or are temporarily incapacitated,” the group wrote.
