- For at least three days it was unclear to the president, the deputy secretary of defense and the public who was at the top of the military chain of command while Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was secretly in the hospital.
- Austin’s undisclosed absence may have jeopardized national security, even if he retained consciousness the entire time, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
- “It is inconceivable that neither the White House nor the deputy secretary of defense knew that the secretary of defense was incapacitated and in the hospital. The Secretary of Defense is a player in all major national security decisions and to have him absent with nobody knowing is unprecedented,” retired Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the DCNF.
The U.S. could have effectively lacked a figure at the helm of its military for at least three days while Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin remained in the Intensive Care Unit without the knowledge of his deputy, the President or other key officials, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Pentagon confirmed that Austin never underwent general anesthesia or lost consciousness during his secretive hospital stay that started on Jan. 1, when he was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in an ambulance for complications from a prior, also undisclosed, surgery. But the uncertainty over Austin’s whereabouts among White House and national security leaders, compounded with remaining unknowns about the secretary’s capacity to execute his duties, could have inserted dangerous rifts in the administration’s ability to respond to global threats, experts said.
“It is inconceivable that neither the White House nor the deputy secretary of defense knew that the secretary of defense was incapacitated and in the hospital. The Secretary of Defense is a player in all major national security decisions and to have him absent with nobody knowing is unprecedented,” retired Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the DCNF.
“I wouldn’t say there was no functioning defense secretary. Instead, I would say there was extraordinary confusion and a lack of knowledge regarding the location and status of the secretary, which could have contributed to a compromise of our national security,” Spoehr added. (RELATED: US Shoots Down 24 Houthi Drones And Missiles In Biggest Attack So Far)
Details of Austin’s hospitalization trickled out, each deepening the apparent extent of secrecy from Austin and disruption in relaying information among his staff and others in the administration.
Austin was transported in an ambulance to the hospital Jan. 1 after experiencing nausea and severe pain in his legs and abdominal area, roughly one week after undergoing a non-invasive surgery to treat prostate cancer, the hospital said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. Doctors placed him in the ICU on Jan. 2 to treat a urinary tract infection, where he remained until resuming his full duties.
Not even the president was aware Austin had received a prostate cancer diagnosis in early December or the nature of the Dec. 22 surgery and ensuing complications until Tuesday.
During his hospitalization, Austin transferred “certain operational authorities” that require “constant secure communications capabilities” to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told CNN. Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time, had access to a secure communications suite and conducted some routine business on Austin’s behalf without knowing the reasoning behind the transfer, Ryder said at a briefing Monday.
The Pentagon said it isn’t uncommon for the secretary to delegate without explanation and certain powers are automatically handed over to the deputy when, for whatever reason, the secretary is unable to do his normal duties, according to CNN. For example, when Austin visited sailors aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier assisting the U.S. deterrence posture in the Mediterranean on Dec. 20, Hicks assumed some of those authorities, Ryder said.
He could not provide specific details of Austin’s capacity during the time up until resuming his full duties on Jan. 5 or describe what portion of the defense secretary’s duties Hicks assumed without knowing the reason why when asked by the DCNF on Tuesday.
Hicks received word Jan. 2 she would have to assume some of the secretary’s duties, the WSJ reported, citing officials familiar. Hicks stuck to her hotel room where a communications team set up the secure facility. At all times she was “fully authorized and ready to support the president on other military matters, should the need have arisen,” a defense official told the WSJ.
“The [secretary of defense] is ultimately responsible for operational control of US forces around the world. At the very best, his absence likely delayed critical decisions. At worst, his absence could have caused friction that cost Americans their lives,” William Thibeau, Director of the American Military Project at the Center for the American Way of Life and a former Army Ranger, told the DCNF.
As a hypothetical, what might have occurred if militants in Iraq and Syria perpetrated another grave attack on U.S. troops and the secretary of defense’s approval was needed to carry out deliberate retaliatory strikes, Thibeu asked. Confusion over Austin’s location and status might have jeopardized the U.S.’ response, experts said.
“A potential mission would have, at best, been delayed and a target could have evaded justice. Even worse, the chain-of-command friction could have put American lives at risk who were looking for authority to prevent immediate attacks,” Thibeau explained.
If Austin was conscious and fully present during his hospital stay, then he might have some excuse for failing to notify interested parties and for not requesting Hicks take his place as acting secretary, he said.
Austin has access to a portable Secure Complemented Information Facility (SCIF) in which to conduct sensitive business at the hospital, but only since resuming his full duties on Jan. 5, Ryder said Tuesday.
“Either way, there is clear deception from his staff about his medical condition, and there should be accountability from the White House,” Thibeau said.
Ryder said Austin remained in the ICU for privacy reasons days after admittance, but did not specify exactly when the secretary stabilized.
The Pentagon released a statement Friday disclosing Austin’s hospitalization in the ICU following severe pain from an “elective medical procedure” on Dec. 22, but with few additional details. The news set off a firestorm as lawmakers and the public learned that Austin’s chief of staff had not informed Hicks or the National Security Adviser and other top national security officials until Jan. 4, with Congress and the public learning late on the 5th.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 25: U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks listens as U.S. President Joe Biden participates virtually in a meeting on the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House on July 25, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee reacted to the news immediately on Saturday, accusing Austin of violating a law that requires presidential notification if a deputy must assume any top official’s place on an acting basis.
“All of this really depends upon whether Austin was unable to perform his duties during that time,” William Woodruff, legal counsel at the Center for Military Readiness and a former law professor and Army JAG chief, told the DCNF. If he were in a hospital but fully alert, he could likely perform his duties though he wasn’t seated at a Pentagon desk.
“If, however, he was unconscious, sedated, or taking pain or other medication that could affect his mental faculties then he would not have been able to perform his duties,” and Hicks should have been formally designated the acting secretary of defense, Woodruff added.
“The facts matter but the Pentagon hasn’t been open with the facts,” he said.
Ryder said the Pentagon is looking into reporting requirements without getting into specifics.
“Perhaps a crisis did not develop this time, but in a world as tense as ours, the potential consequences are beyond comprehension,” Thibeau told the DCNF.
Republicans on the Senate and House Armed Services committees have launched formal inquiries into the secretary’s failure to disclose his hospitalization. Calls for the secretary to resign are mounting.
“We need to know who is in charge at the Department of Defense. We cannot have a Secretary of Defense who can just disappear for days on end unnoticed,” Republican Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, told the DCNF. “There is a clear leadership issue at the Department of Defense that needs to be addressed,” he added, citing his official probe into the process.
“Lloyd Austin cannot recover from this breach of trust. In fact, he cannot be trusted any longer. If he wants to keep his hospital visits private, he should be allowed to do so – as a private citizen,” retired Col. Joe Buccino, a former spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, wrote for Real Clear Defense on Saturday.
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