CNN
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When the acting defense secretary began taking over some of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s duties on Jan. 2, even she didn’t know it was because Austin was hospitalized, two defense officials told CNN.
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, the Pentagon’s No. 2 executive, was among the senior leaders who remained in the dark about Austin’s true whereabouts until Thursday, three days after the secretary checked into Walter Reed Medical Center following complications from a scheduled surgery. It wasn’t until three days after his stay there that even the president knew about Austin’s hospitalization, as CNN previously reported.
The revelation that not even Hicks knew Austin was hospitalized is sure to increase questions within the administration about why his status was kept secret not only from the public, but also from senior national security officials and the White House.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that he was not aware that Austin had been hospitalized. The two spoke the weekend before Austin’s hospitalization on New Year’s Day, Blinken said at a news conference in Qatar, but declined to engage in “hypotheses” when asked what his own notification policy would be if he were hospitalized would. Blinken called Austin an “extraordinary leader” and wished him a full recovery.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told CNN on Sunday that Austin transferred “certain operational responsibilities that require ongoing secure communications capabilities” to Hicks on Jan. 2, a day after he was admitted to Walter Reed. Last week, Hicks made “some routine operational and management decisions” for the Pentagon and was authorized to assist the president.
But Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time, was not informed of Austin’s hospitalization until the afternoon of Jan. 4, defense officials said. Ryder told CNN that it is “not unusual” for the secretary to delegate certain responsibilities without providing a specific reason why such a delegation is necessary.
At that point, Hicks began making contingency plans to return to Washington, D.C. on Friday, the official said. However, with Austin expected to return to full duties on Friday – albeit from the hospital – she decided to remain in Puerto Rico to ensure continuity of communication.
“The secretary is constantly surrounded by all these people managing him and helping him on a day-to-day basis, and no one has had the means to even tell the White House?” said a Pentagon official. “I’m surprised no one has used the word ‘cover-up’ yet.”
Ryder told CNN on Sunday that Austin has “no plans to resign” over the incident, which has left many Pentagon officials deeply frustrated and wondering why they were left in the dark. The White House insists that President Joe Biden — who only learned Austin was hospitalized three days after the secretary checked into Walter Reed Medical Center on Jan. 1 — still has full confidence in Austin. The two had a “warm” conversation Saturday evening, the White House said, in which Biden told Austin he looked forward to having him back at work
Senior White House officials said Sunday that the nature of Austin’s health was still a mystery to many senior White House aides, but added that the situation was unlikely to affect Biden’s positive view of his defense secretary.
Officials could not recall any previous disputes between the men and said the president respected Austin’s professionalism. Austin also had a personal friendship with Biden’s late son Beau; During their deployment to Iraq, the two regularly attended Catholic mass together.
A person familiar with Biden’s thinking also said that the president has long held the view that personal matters should be kept confidential even for a public official, which might reflect some degree of sympathy for Austin in his current situation – too the lack of disclosure has confused many officials.
The Pentagon’s delay in disclosing the situation is even more striking when compared to the way other Cabinet members have handled health issues. For example, when Attorney General Merrick Garland underwent surgery in 2022, the Justice Department released a detailed statement about the procedure and the diagnosis that required it, including the duration of the surgery and the time Garland would remain hospitalized afterward.
And in August 2022, Austin released a statement detailing his last contact with the president and his symptoms on the day he tested positive for Covid-19.
The question also remains as to why Austin and his team tried so hard to keep his condition a secret. Austin’s chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, sent an email to senior military officials on Friday to update them on Austin’s condition, officials said, four days after Austin’s hospitalization and just hours before the Pentagon announced the hospitalization to the general public.
Dan Grazier, a senior defense policy fellow at the Project for Government Oversight, called it “baffling” that the Defense Department kept the matter secret for days.
“This is the basic formula of public relations,” Grazier told CNN. “Especially in this position, it should have been clear to them from the start that this happened and who was in charge.”
Grazier compared the situation to the Pentagon’s use of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), a designation that prevents documents that are not classified or top secret from becoming public.
“It’s this cauldron of opacity,” Grazier said. “It’s the exact opposite of transparency.”
Some Pentagon officials were told last Tuesday, a day after Austin was hospitalized, that the secretary was on leave for a week. But that’s far from the whole story, defense officials told CNN. Many assumed he was either working from home or simply taking an extended vacation.
In reality, Austin was in the intensive care unit at Walter Reed, suffering complications from his surgery, defense officials said.
It is not clear whether Austin was ever unconscious or incapacitated. But he was vigilant, tracking a Jan. 4 military attack in Baghdad that killed the commander of a pro-Iran militia, a defense official said. That strike was also pre-approved before Austin entered the hospital on Jan. 1, CNN previously reported.
Austin remained hospitalized Saturday evening, the defense official said. But he released a statement praising the “amazing” staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for the care he received and said he was “on the mend” and looking forward to returning home Pentagon.
He acknowledged “the media’s concerns about transparency” and said in the statement, “I am committed to doing better.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
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2024-01-07 20:16:15
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