The Pentagon's internal watchdog says Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "unnecessarily" increased risks to national security by keeping his illness and hospitalizations secret in late 2023 and early 2024. In a report released after a yearlong investigation, the office of the Pentagon's inspector general criticized Austin and his team for failing to notify President Biden and other key officials after he was hospitalized with complications from prostate cancer surgery, the Hill reports. The hospitalizations were kept secret from the White House and top defense officials, including Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, for days.
The report said Austin didn't notify staff or transfer his authority to Hicks during two procedures during his hospitalization in early January last year when he was "moderately sedated" and told he might have to go under general anesthesia, reports CNN. He was in "severe condition" during a procedure weeks later, but didn't transfer his authority to Hicks for hours. The report said Austin not only didn't tell Hicks about his medical condition and appointments, "he specifically told one junior staff member 'if anyone had any questions they're more than welcome to ask (me) directly,' an admonition not likely to foster further inquiry," reports USA Today.
"Although we found no adverse consequences to DoD operations arising from how the hospitalizations we reviewed were handled, the risks to our national defense, including the command and control of the DoD's critical national security operations, were increased unnecessarily," Robert Storch, the Pentagon inspector general, said in a statement. Seamless operations at the Pentagon "and the continuity of leadership under any and all circumstances are fundamental to our national security," Storch said. The report said Austin agreed to make 20 changes recommended by the inspector general. (Last year, Austin apologized for not telling the president, his team, and the public about his cancer diagnosis.)
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