VISIT ISRAEL: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a press conference together with Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv on 18 December. Photo: VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA / Reuters / NTB
Lloyd Austin (70) has been hospitalized since 1 January. According to the American media, it took several days before even the boss Joe Biden was notified.
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- US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin (70) has been hospitalized since January 1, due to complications following a medical procedure.
- Neither President Joe Biden nor the country’s deputy defense minister should have been informed of the hospitalization until several days later.
- The case is causing a stir in the US, and Austin has received criticism from both congressional politicians and journalists.
- On Saturday, he said in a statement from the hospital bed that he should have been better informed. He also said that he was on the mend.
Sea view
The Pentagon has later stated that the defense minister ended up in the intensive care unit at the Walter Reed military hospital due to complications after what they refer to as a “minor medical intervention”.
The operation itself is said to have taken place on 22 December.
Both Lloyd Austin himself and his ministry the Pentagon have been very reticent to reveal details of the case.
The case is getting a lot of attention in the USA, where it is causing reactions that the head of the country’s defense has been in hospital without either the public or the country’s president having known about it.
The secrecy is a breach of routine and comes at a demanding time, in the middle of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, writes NTB.
– The Ministry of Defense has for several days withheld information about the condition of the Minister of Defence. It is unacceptable, says the Republican senator Roger Wicker AP.
He believes the case weakens confidence in the Biden administration.
WORKS ON DEFENSE AFFAIRS: Republican Sen. Roger Wicker sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Here during a press conference about the war in Ukraine in January last year. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Takes self-criticism
The news agency AP writes that they have spoken to three people with knowledge of the case who say that President Joe Biden did not learn about the hospitalization until Thursday, January 4 – three days later. He is said to have received the message from his security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Nor was Foreign Minister Antony Blinken aware that Austin was in hospital, he revealed to the press on Sunday.
– I am very much looking forward to seeing him healthy again so that we can work together, said Blinken.
According to both CNN and the AP wasn’t even told of Austin’s second-in-command, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, about the admission until Thursday.
Already the day after her admission on New Year’s Day, Tuesday 2 January, she is said to have taken over some of the Minister of Defence’s duties. The Pentagon has not responded to whether she received any explanation as to why.
Lloyd Austin has taken self-criticism for the way the case has been handled.
– I realize that I could have done a better job to ensure that the public was well enough informed. I promise to do better. But it is important to say that the medical intervention concerned me, and that I take full and complete responsibility for my information decision, said the defense ministers in a statement from the hospital bed on Saturday.
TAKEN OVER WORK TASKS: According to several American media, Deputy Defense Minister Kathleen Hicks is said to have taken over some of Austin’s work tasks before she knew about the hospitalization. Photo: Alex Brandon / AP / NTB
Requires multiple responses
Austin has also received criticism from members of the House of Representatives. In a joint statement, Mike Rogers, who is a Republican, and Adam Smith, who is a Democrat, say that the handling of the case “raises concern”.
Among other things, they want answers to what kind of intervention Austin had carried out, and how his responsibilities were distributed while he was away.
– Transparency is very important. Defense Secretary Austin needs to make public these details about his health and the decisions of the last few weeks, they say.
The case also arouses reactions among journalists in the United States.
The organization Pentagon Press Association, which represents journalists who cover the US Department of Defense, calls the case hair-raising, writes AP.
– At a time of increasing threats against American soldiers in the Middle East and where the United States plays a key role for national security around the wars in Israel and Ukraine, it is very important that the American public learn about the health and decision-making ability of its top defense leader, they say in a statement.
Press manager: Will not resign
Dan Grazier, who works in the Project On Government Oversight, an organization that, among other things, works to uncover abuse of power and conflicts of interest in the US government, says CNN that he is amazed by the matter.
– It is absolutely fundamental in the PR handbook. Especially when it comes to a position like this. They should have been very clear from the start about what had happened and who was responsible.
Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder says CNN that Austin’s chief of staff Kelly Magsamen herself was ill in the new year, and that she was not able to notify those who were to be admitted before Thursday.
On Sunday, the press manager told CNN that Austin has no plans to resign because of the case.
Published:
Published: 08.01.24 at 01:55
2024-01-08 00:55:58
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