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U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin needed to explain why the White House and senior officials were not immediately informed that he had been hospitalized earlier this week until days later, amid a Complex times such as the The Biden administration is dealing with a number of national security matters abroad.
“Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday due to complications from a recent medical procedure,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday.
Ryder said the hospitalization was withheld from the media for “medical and personal privacy reasons.” However, staff at the National Security Council, Department of Defense, congressional leaders and the White House were also not immediately informed, officials confirmed to Fox News.
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IRANIAN MEDIA REPORTS AT LEAST 103 KILLED AND 141 INJURED IN EXPLOSIONS NEAR GENERAL QASSEM SOLEIMANI'S TOMB
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon last year. Austin was hospitalized this week but came under criticism after it emerged that senior US leaders, including President Biden, were not informed until days later. The Pentagon informed the media on Friday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik/File)
“Secretary Austin must immediately address the troubling report that the Department of Defense did not immediately notify President Biden or the National Security Council that he was hospitalized and unable to perform his duties,” Cotton said in a statement released Saturday. “The Secretary of Defense is the most important link in the chain of command between the President and the uniformed military, including the nuclear chain of command, when the most important decisions must be made in minutes.
“If this report is true, this shocking collapse must have consequences,” he added.
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Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was glad Austin was doing well but called the Defense Department's secrecy a “shocking disregard for the law.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. (Screenshot/CSPAN/File)
“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 to hear the full extent of the circumstances,” Wicker said in a statement. “This episode further undermines trust in the Biden administration, which has repeatedly failed to inform the public in a timely manner about critical events such as the Chinese spy balloon and the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
“Members must be informed immediately that the matter has been fully clarified.”
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After Austin was hospitalized, his deputy, Kathleen Hicks, who was on a previously scheduled vacation and not physically at the Pentagon, partially assumed some of his duties Monday through Friday, an official told Fox News.
The National Security Council and President Biden were not informed of Austin's hospitalization until Thursday, and Congress was not informed until Friday, minutes before a public statement was released to the press, officials said. Even high-ranking Pentagon officials were not told about it, the official said.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/File)
Austin was being treated in the intensive care unit after a planned surgery that he did not want to make public. The secrecy contrasts with Marine Corps Commander Eric Smith, who suffered a heart attack on October 29, 2023. Within a few hours, a press release was published and regular updates were sent out.
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Pentagon announces new international mission in the Red Sea to counter escalating Houthi attacks on ships
In a statement released Saturday, Austin thanked Walter Reed doctors and colleagues and friends while acknowledging concerns about transparency.
“I am very happy to be on the mend and look forward to returning to the Pentagon soon,” he said. “I also understand the media’s concerns about transparency and recognize that I could have done a better job ensuring the public is adequately informed. I am committed to doing better. But it is important to say: This was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my disclosure decisions.”
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Wicker added that the leaders had a right to know why the notification process was not followed before asking what the rationale was for withholding Austin's status from the National Security Council and the extent to which he was incapacitated.
“The very fact that we have none of this information is an indictment of an administration that consistently disregards the authority of Congress on matters of national defense,” Wicker said.
The delayed news angered the press. The Pentagon Press Association (PPA), an organization that serves as the voice of journalists covering the Pentagon, sent a letter from its board of directors to Secretary Austin's staff on Friday evening.
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“We write to express our deep concern about the Department of Defense’s failure to inform the public and media of Secretary Lloyd Austin’s current hospitalization,” the letter said. “The fact that he has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for four days and the Pentagon is only now alerting the public late Friday evening is a scandal.”
The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. (Tom Brenner/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File)
News of Austin's hospitalization came at a complicated time for the Biden administration. U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria are increasingly under attack by drones and missiles from Iranian-backed groups. Ground troops have repelled more than 100 attacks there so far.
Furthermore, the US is engaged in a proxy war with Russia as it continues to arm Ukraine while supporting Israel with funding and weapons in its war with Hamas.
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Several American warships are also in the Red Sea and have shot down dozens of drones and ballistic missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
On Thursday, U.S. forces killed the leader of a terrorist group in Iraq, Mushtaq Jawad Kazim al-Jawari, a leader of the Iran-backed Harakat al-Nujaba, which was involved in planning and carrying out attacks on American personnel, the Pentagon said Thursday with.