The White House will “take a look at” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s secret hospitalization, while he still maintains support from President Joe Biden.
Austin has been in the hospital for a week after initially suffering from complications from an undisclosed elective procedure last month, and his top aides failed to notify the White House and the public for days, causing significant uproar about the lack of transparency.
“As you might expect, we’ll take a look at process and procedure here and try to learn from this experience,” National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said on Monday. “If there’s changes that need to be made in terms of process and procedure, we’ll do that.”
Austin, 70, had an undisclosed elective procedure on Dec. 22 and returned from the hospital the next day. Then, on Jan. 1, he “began experiencing severe pain and was transported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement to the Washington Examiner on Sunday evening.
Biden was not informed Austin had been in the ICU until Jan. 4, according to multiple outlets, and the information was released publicly a day later, shortly after relevant congressional leaders were told about it. He resumed his duties as secretary on Jan. 5, even though he remains in the hospital as of Monday.
Despite the delayed notification, Biden has no intention of firing Austin over this situation.
“The President is not considering replacing Secretary Austin,” a White House official told the Washington Examiner. “The President continues to have full trust and confidence in the Secretary.”
Austin’s unknown absence has raised questions and concerns from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill about the lack of transparency, while some have called for the president to fire the secretary.
The timing of Austin’s hospitalization also raises the stakes. The U.S. military is supporting, albeit in different ways, both Ukraine and Israel. Simultaneously, U.S. troops are involved in an international coalition to protect commercial vessels in the Red Sea from the Houthis in Yemen, which have Iran’s support. The Houthis have attacked roughly two dozen ships in recent weeks, while they have said the high death toll in Gaza — more than 22,000, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants — as the reason for their attacks on commercial vessels.
U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have also come under drone and rocket fire more than a hundred times from Iraqi militias since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The U.S. forces are stationed there to help ensure the Islamic State does not expand.
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Last week, while Austin was in the ICU and his role was temporarily transferred to the deputy secretary of defense, Kathleen Hicks, the U.S. military conducted a controversial airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, targeting the leaders of one of those Iraqi militias that had been targeting U.S. forces.
Biden and Austin had already authorized the strike prior to his hospitalization, according to a defense official. The operation targeted Mushtaq Jawad Kazim al Jawari, also known as Abu-Taqwa, and he was the leader of Harakat-al-Nujaba, an Iraqi militia with ties to Iran. A number of Iraqi militias have targeted U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria more than a hundred times dating back to mid-October.
