Lawmakers sharply criticized U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday for failing to inform the White House earlier this year of his hospitalization for complications related to cancer treatment.
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“It is completely unacceptable that it took three days to tell the president of the United States that the secretary of defense was in the hospital and not overseeing the Pentagon,” Mike Rogers, Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said during a hearing.
“Wars were raging in Ukraine and Israel, our ships were under fire in the Red Sea, and our bases were preparing for attacks in Syria and Iraq. But the commander-in-chief did not know that his defense minister was off duty,” he added.
For his part, Democratic Rep. Adam Smith lamented “the lack of transparency” at the Pentagon and said that “we need clearer and more transparent information about what is happening at the Pentagon.”
The Pentagon chief failed to inform President Joe Biden of two hospitalizations in December and January, prompting an outcry. On February 1st, he publicly apologized.
At the hearing, Lloyd Austin stressed that there was “never a breakdown in command and control” at the Pentagon, but acknowledged that “we have not done a good job of informing senior officials.”
I “never told anyone not to inform the president, the White House or anyone else about my hospitalization,” he repeated.