US defense secretary Lloyd Austin has said he takes “full responsibility” for secrecy surrounding an ongoing, week-long hospitalisation for a still-unspecified medical condition.
Austin, who is 70, was admitted on New Year’s Day to Walter Reed national military medical center for what the Pentagon has said were “complications following a recent elective medical procedure”, a fact the defence department kept under wraps for five days.
The Pentagon has yet to detail why Austin is being treated, whether he lost consciousness over the past week or offer details on when he might be discharged from the hospital.
“I recognise I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better,” Austin said in a written statement on Saturday.
“But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”
Austin’s statement came as the Associated Press news agency reported that senior Biden administration leaders, top Pentagon officials and members of Congress were unaware for days that Austin had been hospitalised.
The Pentagon did not inform the White House national security council or top adviser Jake Sullivan of Austin’s hospitalisation until Thursday, according to two administration officials who were not authorised to speak publicly about the matter and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.
Air force Maj Gen Pat Ryder said the White House and the joint chiefs of staff were notified about Austin’s hospitalisation but would not confirm when that notice happened. Politico reported that the joint chiefs chairman, Gen CQ Brown, did not learn of Austin’s situation until the day after his hospitalization.
Ryder said members of Congress were told late Friday afternoon, and other officials said lawmakers were informed after 5pm. It was not clear when key senior members of Austin’s staff were told, but across the Pentagon, many staff found out when the department released a statement about Austin’s hospital stay just minutes after 5pm. Many believed Austin was on vacation for the week.
The top Republican on the Senate armed services committee, Senator Roger Wicker, accused the Pentagon of failing to inform Congress immediately about such matters, as required by law.
But it is unclear how widely the information was shared even within president Joe Biden’s administration. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AP Biden was only informed on Thursday evening. Another official said Biden maintained confidence in Austin and the two spoke on Saturday evening.
Austin sits just below Biden at the top of the chain of command of the US military and his duties require his being available at a moment’s notice to respond to any manner of national security crisis.
It remains unclear the extent to which his duties were delegated to his deputy, Kathleen Hicks, or whether Austin was involved in any key decisions during his absence.
Hicks, who took over when Austin was hospitalised, was also away. A US official said she had a communications setup with her in Puerto Rico that allowed her to do the job while Austin, who spent 41 years in the military and retired as a four-star Army general in 2016, was incapacitated.
Not even Hicks knew Austin had been hospitalized when she began assuming some of his duties, CNN reported Sunday, citing two unnamed defense officials.
Wicker said the episode further eroded the public’s trust in the Biden administration, citing past failures to quickly disclose information about national security incidents, including the appearance of a Chinese spy balloon over the US last year.
“When one of the country’s two national command authorities is unable to perform their duties, military families, members of Congress, and the American public deserve to know the full extent of the circumstances,” Wicker said in a statement.
Meanwhile, in an interview with CNN, former Republican vice-president Mike Pence called the delayed disclosure of Austin’s hospitalization “a dereliction of duty”, especially at a time when two American allies – Ukraine and Israel – were engaged in separate wars.
Retired Lt Gen Mark Hertling, who previously served as the US army’s commanding officer in Europe, told CNN that Austin “should … have notified the [national security council] or the White House”.
“You always notify your boss if you’re hospitalized for something, and we don’t know what occurred that didn’t allow that to happen,” Hertling said.
But Hertling downplayed the idea that the US may have been vulnerable with Austin hospitalized.
“He has multiple deputies he trusts to continue the actions of the department while he’s away,” Hertling said to CNN.
Other military officials saw matters more harshly than Hertling. A Politico report from Sunday quoted an unnamed defense department official who believed Austin’s undisclosed hospitalization could cost a senior Pentagon aide’s job, despite Austin’s taking responsibility.
“Someone’s head has to roll,” the official said, according to Politico.
Military Reporters and Editors (MRE), a non-profit organisation for journalists covering the US military, said the decision to only release the information on a Friday evening, when online readership is typically lower, “is keeping in the worst traditions of obfuscation and opacity.”
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
