The Department of Defense Inspector General is reviewing the decisions made surrounding Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s ongoing hospitalization.
Robert Storch, the DOD IG, informed Austin and other senior DOD leaders of his review in a Wednesday memo, released publicly on Thursday.
“The objective of the review is to examine the roles, processes, procedures, responsibilities and actions related to the Secretary of Defense’s hospitalization in December 2023 — January 2024, and assess whether the DoD’s policies and procedures are sufficient to ensure timely and appropriate notification and the effective transition of authorities as may be warranted due to health-based or other unavailability of senior leadership,” the notification said.
Austin was hospitalized on Jan. 1 after experiencing complications from a surgery to treat prostate cancer on Dec. 22. He remains hospitalized though he has carried out his duties as secretary since Jan. 5.
The secretary kept both his initial diagnosis, which he found out in early December, and the complications secret from the White House and the public. President Joe Biden was not informed his secretary of defense had been hospitalized until Jan. 4 and was not told of his cancer diagnosis until Jan. 9, even though the two leaders spoke on Jan. 6.
The breakdown in the notification process has raised flags that both the Pentagon and White House are trying to address so the situation cannot repeat itself. House and Senate lawmakers are also demanding answers about the secrecy of Austin’s hospitalization, while some individual lawmakers have called for his resignation.
Austin delegated certain authorities to the deputy secretary of defense, Kathleen Hicks, ahead of his Dec. 22 surgery and on Jan. 2, a day after he was brought back to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center via ambulance.
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Austin’s doctors announced his cancer diagnosis in a statement on Tuesday, which was the first and only time the department has shared details on the initial surgery and subsequent complications.
He was brought back to the hospital due to “nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain. Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection,” the doctors said. “Further evaluation revealed abdominal fluid collections impairing the function of his small intestines. This resulted in the back up of his intestinal contents which was treated by placing a tube through his nose to drain his stomach. The abdominal fluid collections were drained by non-surgical drain placement.”
