Pentagon chief under fire for withholding information about deadly Kenya attack
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks to the media last month at the Pentagon. (Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images)
By
Dan Lamothe
Yesterday at 9:00 a.m. EDT
Frustrated lawmakers are pressuring Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for information about an attack last year in Kenya that killed three Americans, saying it is “simply unacceptable” for the Pentagon to stonewall Congress.
The lawmakers said in a letter sent to the Pentagon on Friday that the Defense Department has not responded to numerous requests for information since the Jan. 5, 2020, attack was sprung by militants on a seaside airfield near the Somali border, and that members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform expect more from the Pentagon and U.S. Africa Command.
“On February 5, 2020, the Subcommittee on National Security wrote to DOD requesting a briefing on the attack,” the lawmakers wrote. “Seventeen months later — despite repeated requests to your office and AFRICOM — DOD has not provided any substantive information about the attack or the security lapses that contributed to it, citing ongoing investigations.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/manda-bay-attack-kenya/2021/08/07/f24b6796-f6e9-11eb-83e7-06a8a299c310_story.html
