Lloyd Austin, 70 years old, was hospitalized on January 1st, but the Pentagon did not announce the fact until the 5th; not even Biden would have been informed
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, 70, said he bore “full responsibility” for keeping secret a weeklong hospital stay for an unspecified illness.
According to the Pentagon last Friday (January 5, 2024), he was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on January 1 due to “complications following a recent elective medical procedure.” Until then, the hospital stay had been kept secret.
“I realize I could have done more to ensure the public was properly informed. I am committed to doing better,” Austin said in a statement. According to the spokesman, he resumed all his duties on Friday evening (January 5, 2024) but remained in the hospital.
A US official told Portal on condition of anonymity that even President Joe Biden had not been notified and only found out about it on Thursday (January 4).
Republican Senator Roger Wicker, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Pentagon broke the law by not immediately notifying Congress of the hospitalization. According to him, the episode “further undermines” public trust in the Biden administration.
“If either of the country’s two national command authorities is unable to carry out its duties, service members, members of Congress and the American public deserve the full extent of the circumstances,” the congressman said.
The Pentagon Press Association also criticized the institution. In a letter to employees, the association said Austin is a public figure who has no right to medical privacy at a time when the country's military authorities are the target of “increasing threats.”