Lloyd Austin is no longer in the intensive care unit. The US Secretary of Defense is in “good condition” but, according to a spokesman, continues to feel “unwell” and requires medical observation for the time being. The embarrassment that the White House feels is of a different nature, namely political. For several days, Joe Biden and his advisers were not informed of the Pentagon chief's hospitalization. A breach of protocol and a cover-up that raises many questions. It wasn't until Tuesday, January 9th that the public – and Joe Biden himself – learned the original reason for his hospitalization: prostate cancer.
On December 22, 70-year-old Lloyd Austin underwent surgery under general anesthesia at Walter Reed Military Hospital, Maryland. The White House was not informed, nor was Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. The next day, the Pentagon chief was back home and resumed his work remotely, according to the official version. But on January 1, after a video conference with the White House on the situation in the Middle East, Lloyd Austin felt severe pain caused by a urinary tract infection. An ambulance took him back to the hospital.
The next day, January 2, several advisers to the Secretary of Defense learned of his whereabouts, as did the Armed Forces Chief of Staff, General Charles Brown. Through a simple email, Kathleen Hicks—who is traveling in Puerto Rico—learns that she is temporarily exercising the minister's prerogatives. As if nothing had happened, the United States and thirteen allied countries released a statement on January 3 threatening Houthi forces over their attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
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Inexplicable in the midst of a security crisis
It was not until January 4, three days after Lloyd Austin was hospitalized again, that Kelly Magsamen, his chief of staff, informed national security adviser Jake Sullivan of his condition. The Pentagon explained that Kelly Magsamen could not have acted faster because she herself had the flu, as if email and telephones did not exist. An inexplicable delay, a secret powerlessness in the middle of a security crisis, with the risk of a regional conflict between Israel and Hamas.
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On January 5, around 5 p.m., Lloyd Austin's hospitalization was finally made public. The next day, Joe Biden spoke to the convalescent, without anything leaking out of their conversation. The defense minister simply issued a press release saying he took “full responsibility” for the way the information was disseminated and, in particular, not disseminated. Lloyd Austin acknowledged that he “could have done a better job of ensuring that the public was properly informed.”
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