New details shed light on how top White House officials, including President Joe Biden himself, were not informed for days that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized last week in a shock turn of events.
Reporting on Saturday also divulged that Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks took charge while she was on vacation after Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday for what the Pentagon described as “complications following a recent elective medical procedure.”
The Department of Defense (DoD), which did not publicly disclose Austin’s health matter until close-of-business on Friday, released a statement from the defense secretary sharing that he was recovering and expressing contrition for how the situation had been handled.
“I want to thank the amazing doctors and nursing staff at Walter Reed for the exceptional care they have delivered to me and for the personal warmth they have shown my family. I also appreciate all the outreach and well wishes from colleagues and friends. Charlene and I are very grateful for your support,” he said, referring to his wife.
“I am very glad to be on the mend and look forward to returning to the Pentagon soon,” Lloyd added. “I also understand the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better. But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”
U.S. officials told POLITICO that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and other senior White House aides did not learn of Austin’s health scare until Thursday. “This should not have happened this way,” one of the officials told the news outlet. A source also told CNN that Biden himself did not learn what happened to Austin for days.
Another report, this one from NBC News, featured senior administration officials saying Austin spent four days in the intensive care unit. A senior defense official said Hicks took on the defense secretary’s duties last week even though she was on vacation in Puerto Rico and Austin did not resume full command until Friday evening.
“At all times, the Deputy Secretary of Defense was prepared to act for and exercise the powers of the Secretary, if required,” Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder insisted in a statement. He also said there was an “evolving situation” in which “multiple factors” such as medical and privacy issues were considered.
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Despite Biden and his National Security Council reportedly being caught off guard, the president has “full confidence” in Austin and is “looking forward to him being back at the Pentagon,” a White House official told Reuters.
Members of the media, some with decades of experience covering the Pentagon, voiced shock and concern in response to the DoD releasing a public statement on Friday that revealed Austin had been hospitalized on Monday — an announcement that POLITICO noted came 15 minutes after Congress was notified.
The board of directors of the Pentagon Press Association, a group for reporters covering the national security beat, sent a letter to DoD public affairs officials calling the late notice an “outrage” and requesting a meeting on the “troubling situation as soon as possible.” They also said Austin “has no claim to privacy in this situation.”
Some lawmakers demanded an explanation from the DoD, including Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who said Austin “must address promptly the troubling report that the Department of Defense didn’t immediately notify President Biden or the National Security Council that he was hospitalized and unable to perform his duties.”