NEW UPDATED UPDATE: SecDef Austin Did Not Tell Biden's National Security Adviser He Was in the ICU
streiff
The Department of Defense didn't notify the White House that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in the Walter Reed National Medical Center intensive care unit until Thursday. That's it.
I've posted twice on the growing mystery of why the Defense Department failed to notify Congress that Secretary Austin was in the hospital. In the first episode, it was revealed in a Pentagon statement on Friday that Austin had been in the hospital since New Year's Day due to "complications" from an "elective medical procedure." This came as a shock to the Pentagon Press Corps and Congress.
The second act materialized earlier on Saturday with the report that Austin hadn't just been in the hospital; he'd been in the intensive care unit from Monday to Friday evening. His deputy, Kathleen Hicks, was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time. While he was incapacitated and she was sunning herself, the US ordered a drone strike on the leader of an Iranian militia; the US Navy was trying to make the Red Sea safe for commercial traffic without upsetting the Iranians or Houthis, a war raged between Israel and Hamas, and North Korea lobbed a couple of hundred artillery rounds into South Korean waters.
I ended that update with this note.
While we are focused on Congressional notification, no one has yet asked if the White House was told.
Now we have the answer to that question.
The Pentagon did not inform senior officials in the White House’s National Security Council of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization until Thursday — three full days after he arrived at Walter Reed Medical Center, two U.S. officials said.
The news came as a shock to top staff, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, as they were unaware the DOD chief was dealing with complications following an elective medical procedure, the officials said. NSC staffers were surprised it took the Pentagon so long to let them know of Austin’s condition. The Pentagon didn’t make the information public until Friday evening, notifying Congress about 15 minutes before releasing a public statement.
more
https://redstate.com/streiff/2024/01/06/updated-update-secdef-austin-did-not-tell-bidens-national-security-adviser-he-was-in-the-icu-n2168382
