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WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is taking fire from both Republican leaders and a major liberal news outlet after news broke that he did not disclose a hospitalization for three days, including to his boss, President Joe Biden.
Secretary Austin was hospitalized on January 1, but the White House did not disclose this information until late in the day on Friday, during what is called the “Friday news dump,” when people start their weekends and news outlets are working with smaller teams. The hospitalization was due to complications from an elective procedure he underwent on December 22.
Austin’s deputy secretary reportedly took over his duties on January 2 – but she did not even find out until January 4 – while she was in Puerto Rico.
“Perhaps the most incomprehensible fact is that Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks did not find out her boss was hospitalized until Jan. 4, even though the Pentagon says Mr. Austin granted Ms. Hicks temporary duties on Jan. 2,” the liberal Washington Post editorial board wrote. “She was not told why and remained in the Caribbean, where she was vacationing, until Jan. 6.”
The Post also criticized Austin’s apparent lack of authority in several high-profile foreign conflicts, writing:
The fact that no one in the White House appears to have noticed the secretary’s absence for several days amid heated conflicts in the Middle East and in Ukraine is another riddle — and unfortunately implies Mr. Austin, though an able man, is not as central to national security decision-making as his counterparts, especially Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Mr. Sullivan. Also unfortunately, Mr. Austin’s penchant for secrecy regarding his health is consistent with his attitude toward public engagement more broadly, particularly his reluctance to interact more than minimally with the Pentagon press corps.
President Donald Trump also criticized Austin.
“Failed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin should be fired immediately for improper professional conduct and dereliction of duty,” he wrote on Truth Social. “He has been missing for one week, and nobody, including his boss, Crooked Joe Biden, had a clue as to where he was, or might be.”
Biden has indicated he will not fire Austin, according to Reuters.
The top Democrat and Republican congressmen on the House Armed Services Committee released a critical statement, saying:
While we wish Sec. Austin a speedy recovery, we are concerned with how the disclosure of the Secretary’s condition was handled. Several questions remain unanswered including what the medical procedure and resulting complications were, what the Secretary’s current health status is, how and when the delegation of the Secretary’s responsibilities were made, and the reason for the delay in notification to the President and Congress.
“Transparency is vitally important. Sec. Austin must provide these additional details on his health and the decision-making process that occurred in the past week as soon as possible,” Congressman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) wrote.
Austin apologized for not communicating better. “I also understand the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better,” he stated in a news release on Saturday.
“But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure,” he stated.
He is working out of the hospital, according to the Pentagon.
Austin, a retired four-star general, has overseen a Department of Defense that has regularly pushed liberal social policies, including woke ideas like “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” drag shows on Air Force bases, and abortion.
Under Austin’s leadership, the Pentagon implemented an abortion travel fund by simply writing a memo. This fund came despite federal law prohibiting taxpayer dollars from being used for abortions for military members.
Meanwhile, and possibly related to the liberal social policies, the DoD is failing to meet its recruitment goals.
Tell Congress to stop the Biden administration from funding wars in Ukraine and Israel