Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will testify in front of the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday morning in what could be a contentious hearing.
The secretary was hospitalized on Jan. 1 with complications from a Dec. 22 surgery to treat prostate cancer, but the White House, Congress, and the public were not notified for days, leading to questions about the chain of command and whether there were efforts to hide his health status.
A Pentagon review of Austin’s hospitalization, which was conducted by Jennifer Walsh, director of administration and management at the Pentagon, found that the secretary did not act with “ill intent or an attempt to obfuscate.”
It also did not fault the handful of Pentagon officials who knew of Austin’s hospitalization but did not immediately notify the White House or Congress. Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters on Monday they were faced with “an unprecedented situation” at the time.
Austin’s appearance on Capitol Hill will be his first since his hospitalization, and if his previous hearings on the Hill are any indication, he could face difficult questions from Republican lawmakers in particular.
House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) will be critical of the review in his opening remarks, portions of which were obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“We were led to believe your 30-day internal review would shed light on the matter,” he will say during his opening remarks. “But it includes no explanation of why the President and his staff were left in the dark. It makes no recommendations to improve communication with the White House. And unsurprisingly, it holds no one accountable. We appreciate your desire to protect your subordinates, but it’s important in a democracy that public officials are held accountable when mistakes are made. This administration has gone to great lengths to avoid accountability whenever possible. But this is a matter of national security, and someone needs to be held accountable.”
The White House was not informed of Austin’s hospitalization until Jan. 4, while Congress and the public were not notified until Jan. 5, even though Austin transferred his authorities to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks on Jan. 2, who wasn’t informed Austin had been hospitalized until Jan. 4.
Defense officials have said there was no gap in the chain of command during his hospitalization. Austin’s doctors decided he should be moved into the intensive care unit on Jan. 2, and his staff realized that he would not have access to the necessary secure communications required to carry out the duties of secretary, so a transfer of authority was initiated. In relaying the transfer to Hicks’s team, they did not specify why Austin was transferring authority to her, which was not uncommon until Austin’s hospitalization.
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“Given the inability to provide the secretary timely communications in that medical setting, the secretary’s aides agreed that a transfer of authorities to the deputy secretary was necessary,” Ryder added. “So, there was never any gap in authorities or command and control. The transfer of authorities was initiated. The deputy secretary was notified of the transfer, and throughout the duration of the secretary’s care at Walter Reed, either the secretary or the deputy secretary was at all times positioned to perform all the functions and duties of the secretary of defense.”
Austin has since apologized for hiding his initial diagnosis from the public.
