Winchester, Virginia – Lloyd Austin went home from the hospital this week. I’m happy for him and wish him a complete and strong recovery. But he should be relieved of his duty, and if the President won’t retire him, Congress should.
For two weeks, beginning before Christmas and extending into the new year, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin played a dangerous hide-and-seek game with the commander-in-chief and the Pentagon brass. During that stretch, he was, for periods of time, incapacitated and hospitalized – conditions he concealed from the White House, along with his whereabouts. A dereliction of duty broke the chain of command, eroded trust with the troops, caused confusion among national security officials, and humiliated Joe Biden.
Much of the reporting and commentary on Austin’s scandal focuses on the period of time from January 1, when Austin was taken by ambulance to the intensive care unit at Walter Reed, to January 5, when he left the ICU but remained hospitalized. It wasn’t until January 4 that the President was told his Defense Secretary was in intensive care. The lengths to which Austin and his staff went to conceal his stay in the infirmary and the confusion about who was in charge during that time are scandalous for sure. But important questions must be asked about the period of time prior to Austin’s emergency admittance on January 1.
In early December, Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer and scheduled himself for surgery to take place just before Christmas. He checked into Walter Reed, underwent surgery on December 22, and returned home the next day. As noted above, he returned to Walter Reed under emergency circumstances on January 1 after experiencing pain and complications from the procedure.
His doctors described the surgery Austin had on December 22 as a prostatectomy. Though common and considered safe, the Cleveland Clinic and other health providers consider a prostatectomy to be a “major procedure” and advise that risk and the potential for complications accompany any surgery. It takes two to four hours to complete and requires the patient to be under general anesthesia. In a statement issued on January 9th, Austin’s medical team – Dr. John Maddox and Dr. Gregory Chesnut – confirmed that Austin was under general anesthesia during the operation. A complete recovery is estimated to take four to eight weeks.
Austin did not inform the White House of his scheduled December 22 operation. According to the Wall Street Journal, he “declined to inform the White House both times he was hospitalized.” The Journal further reported that Austin’s deputy Kathleen Hicks “assumed some duties on Austin’s behalf” around that time, but it is unclear what duties she assumed or how much she knew about his condition. Did she know that he was hospitalized? When she accepted some of the Secretary’s authorities on January 2nd, she was not told that Austin was at Walter Reed.
Austin doesn’t care. On January 6, after details of his misconduct began to emerge, he issued a defiant statement saying: “But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.” In fact, he took no responsibility for his actions, and he was unapologetic.
What makes the December 22nd procedure more curious is this. On January 8, Austin’s chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, went into damage control mode. She announced that the Secretary’s office would investigate itself so we can all “better understand the facts surrounding these events” and so that there will be “clarity and transparency” in the future for circumstances that should easily be handled with common sense.
But here’s the kicker. Magsamen’s probe will only investigate a “timeline of events and notifications beginning from the hospitalization of the Secretary of Defense on January 1, 2024.” (emphasis added)
Austin’s behavior throughout this fiasco constitutes a historical breach of common sense, not to mention common courtesy. The President and the Congress must expect more from a leader entrusted with the enormous responsibilities given to Lloyd Austin. Lloyd Austin must demand more of himself.
“Because we each took an oath to obey the law, support and defend the Constitution, and to do our jobs to the best of our ability, we expect public servants to be guided in their actions by a strong moral compass…Service in the DoD is a privilege that comes with added responsibilities and obligations by nature of holding a national security position or having access to the Nation’s sensitive information. Those responsibilities are accentuated for Service members, who have accepted the jurisdiction of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the added responsibilities inherent to good order and discipline.”
Those are the words of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin three years earlier when he threw his troops under the bus and made wild accusations of extremism in the ranks. Physician heals himself, Mr. Secretary.
This column was originally published at Townhall.com on January 19, 2024
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