Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate railed over the Department of Defense not publicly disclosing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin‘s hospital stay this week until Friday.
The Pentagon announced late Friday that Austin had been at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for much of the week, beginning on Monday and finally returning to his duties on Friday. Reports have suggested that the White House was unaware of Austin’s hospital stay, leading to outrage from the press and lawmakers over a lack of transparency by the Department of Defense.
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Ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), wished Lloyd a “speedy recovery” but also called the lack of transparency “unacceptable.”
“We are learning more every hour about the Department’s shocking defiance of the law. When one of the country’s two National Command Authorities is unable to perform their duties, military families, Members of Congress, and the American public deserve to know the full extent of the circumstances. This episode further erodes trust in the Biden Administration, which has repeatedly failed to inform the public in a timely fashion about critical events such as the Chinese spy balloon and the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Wicker said in a statement on Saturday.
Wicker also questioned why the hospital stay was withheld from the public and other administration officials, along with what the procedure was.
“The very fact that we have none of this information is an indictment of an administration which consistently holds Congressional authority on national defense matters in contempt,” he added.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK), who is on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Saturday that there should be “consequences” for the “shocking breakdown.”
“Secretary Austin must address promptly the troubling report that the Department of Defense didn’t immediately notify President Biden or the National Security Council that he was hospitalized and unable to perform his duties,” Cotton said in a statement.
“The Secretary of Defense is the key link in the chain of command between the president and the uniformed military, including the nuclear chain of command, when the weightiest of decisions must be made in minutes. If this report is true, there must be consequences for this shocking breakdown,” he added.
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Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who is on the House Armed Services Committee, also called for “transparency and accountability” after the incident.
The SECDEF was in the ICU and his UnderSecretary was on vacation, and the White House did not know for 3 days. Nuclear Command and Control is the #1 defense priority, and it failed here. We want transparency and accountability on this.
— Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸 (@RepDonBacon) January 7, 2024
“The [Defense Secretary] was in the ICU and his UnderSecretary was on vacation, and the White House did not know for 3 days. Nuclear Command and Control is the #1 defense priority, and it failed here. We want transparency and accountability on this,” Bacon said.
