House Republicans on Thursday will demand to know whose decision it was to keep Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospital stays a secret from the White House and Congress.
In a hearing before the GOP-led House Armed Services Committee, Austin has been called to testify for the first time since undergoing surgery for prostate cancer and being treated for underlying complications.
White House officials said they were unaware of Austin’s situation until he had been hospitalized for several days in the intensive care unit.
“It’s totally unacceptable that it took over 3 days to inform the President that the Secretary of Defense was in the hospital and not in control of the Pentagon,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of Alabama, in remarks prepared for Thursday.
“Wars were raging in Ukraine and Israel, our ships were under fire in the Red Sea, and our bases were bracing for attack in Iraq and Syria. But the Commander in Chief did not know that his Secretary of Defense was out of action,” according to Rogers’ prepared remarks.
An internal review by the Pentagon concluded there was no indication of “ill intent or an attempt to obfuscate” by Austin’s aides. Instead, the report found, staff was worried about concerns about medical privacy and unsure of protocol in a rapidly changing situation.
Austin has said he never directed his staff to keep his hospitalization quiet.
But the Pentagon review didn’t answer key questions about about when individual aides became aware of Austin’s condition, why each individual chose not to alert the chain of command and whether the defense secretary himself was advised to alert the White House but chose not to. It’s also unclear if Austin’s aides instructed others within the department not to share the information.
In his testimony on Thursday, Austin was expected to say the mishap was his responsibility.
Earlier this month, Austin described the cancer diagnosis as a “gut punch” and said his first instinct was to keep it private. That was a mistake, he said.
“We did not handle this right. I did not handle this right,” Austin said.
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