The Sordid Tale of the Vanishing Secretary of Defense

The Sordid Tale of the Vanishing Secretary of Defense.

“Civilian control of the military is part of the bedrock

foundation of American democracy” (fn1)

On Monday January 1, 2024 Secretary of State Austin was admitted to the hospital, reportedly due to complications from an “elective procedure” he had on December 22, 2023. However, it was not until Thursday the 4th that the President and the National Security Council were informed, Friday the 5th before the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and Congress were informed, and Saturday the 6th the public was informed. This is bad enough, but subsequently we learn that Austin was not only hospitalized, but hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit! Then on January 9 we learned the “elective procedure” Austin had on December 22 was not what most consider an “elective procedure,” but a procedure to treat prostate cancer.

I wish the best for Secretary Austin and hope he fully recovers. However, Secretary Austin’s health is not an excuse for the lies of omission and commission that he and his staff engaged in to hide his hospitalization from our country’s leaders. To the contrary, it was a staggering dereliction of duty that placed our country’s national security in jeopardy and calls into question whether our civilian leaders have lost control of the military.

When the public was first informed of Austin’s hospitalization the Pentagon claimed he was able to, and would, resume his duties if needed. The Pentagon had to abandoned that less than accurate statement when it became known that Austin was in the Intensive Care Unit at Walter Reed Hospital. Austin then offered up his own excuse: “I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better…But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.” Nonsense. Setting aside whether the public had a right to know, as Secretary of Defense, Austin is in charge of our military and certainly does not have the right to keep being hospitalized in the ICU for prostate cancer from the President and other civilian and military leaders! But this cesspool of deceit runs much deeper.

Now it turns out that it was not only Austin who deceived the President. General Brown (USAF) – the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was informed of Austin’s hospitalization on January 2 and kept that information secret. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Brown is the principal military advisor to both the President and the National Security Council. The hospitalization of the Secretary of Defense is certainly a military matter and General Brown had a duty to inform both the President and the NSC. Instead, General Brown made a conscious decision to violate his duty and concealed that information! At best this is a staggering dereliction of duty, and I believe a usurpation of Presidential Authority.

The only other senior officials I’m aware of who knew of Austin’s hospitalization are his senior military assistant Lt. General Ronald Clark who was informed on the 2nd and Kelly Magsamen, Austin’s Chief of Staff. It’s unclear when Magsmen became aware of Austin’s hospitalization, but it appears to have been on January 1. What is clear, is that like General Brown, Lt. General Clark and Magsamen also kept that information secret.

The only others who knew Austin was in the hospital were his personal security detail and an unidentified “junior military aid.” Guess it’s more important for the SecDef’s junior military aid to know than the President. And of course, with crime so bad in D.C., who travels anywhere there without their security detail?

To sum things up so far, we have a full general who is the Chairman of the JCS and the most senior military officer in our armed forces, a Lt. General who is the SecDef’s senior military assistant, and the SecDef’s Chief of Staff all keeping Austin’s hospitalization a secret. Sounds like a conspiracy to me.

Hiding Austin’s hospitalization from the President and the NSC for four days is unconscionable, but at least they are not involved in the day-to-day operation of our military. The ones who are involved in military operations on a daily basis are our senior military and civilian leaders at the Pentagon. However, except for Magsamen, General Brown, and Lt. General Clark none of the senior Pentagon leadership was notified!

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen H. Hicks – the second most senior person in the Pentagon – was on vacation in Puerto Rico when Austin was hospitalized on the 1st. On the 2nd Hicks was handed some SecDef’s responsibilities but not informed Austin was hospitalized. So, who was handling the rest of Austin’s responsibilities while Hicks was soaking up sun in Puerto Rico? Why the number three person at the Pentagon – Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Sasha Baker. Of course, like everything else in this story of deceit, there’s a twist. Baker was told she was filling in for Austin at the office because Austin was working from home!

On the 4th this soap opera started to unravel when Jake Sullivan, Biden’s National Security Advisor, was finally informed that Austin had been in the hospital since January 1, but was not informed that Austin has prostate cancer. It’s unclear whether Sullivan was informed that Austin was in the ICU. Sullivan then informed the President but neither Sullivan nor the President informed Congress. The same day Under Secretary Hicks is informed for the first time and begins preparing to return to D.C. but cancels those plans and stays in Puerto Rico, because on January 5 Austin resumed all his duties – from the hospital. No really. With the SecDef in the hospital, the second most senior Pentagon officials decided to stay on vacation.

For some reason Congress and the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force were not informed of Austins hospitalization until January 5 and the public informed on January 6.

What is the reason being given for not informing these central players about Austin’s hospitalization until the 4^th and 5th? Well, Kelly Magsamen, Austin’s Chief of Staff claims she was “unable to make notifications before then” because she had the flu. What a pathetic excuse. The flu kept her from notifying the President that his SecDef has prostate cancer and was in the ICU! Further, someone was in good enough health to inform General Brown and Lt. General Clark that Austin was hospitalized, to “hand off” some duties to Under Secretary Hicks, and to lie to Baker and tell her that she had to fill in for Austin at the office because he was working from home. However, this person was not healthy enough to inform the President? What about the other 26,000 people who work at the Pentagon? Was there not one of them healthy enough to inform the President?

If you don’t think this is a huge deal, then think about this:

– There’s all-out war between Israel and Hamas;

– Hamas is still holding American hostages;

– There’s all-out war between Ukraine and Russia;

– Hezbollah is attacking Israel daily in support of Hamas, which has pushed the Middle East to the brink of a regional war;

– The Houthis, with Iran’s support are routinely attacking international shipping, including at least one American flagged merchant, in the Red Sea;

– Iranian proxies are almost daily attacking U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq;

– Iran is saber-rattling by threatening to actively support Hamas militarily;

– North Korea, under the less than stable leadership of Kim Jung Un, is engaging in brinkmanship, including firing artillery into South Korean controlled waters; and

– China is routinely engaging in aggressive military acts that fall just short of declaring war on Taiwan;

And while all of this and more is going on, the Pentagon played ‘hide the SecDef’ from the President – who’s also the Commander-in-Chief of our military, the National Security Council, Congress, the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Keeping this information from the President and others is not just a lack of transparency, it’s at best a gross dereliction of duty, if not a usurpation of Presidential authority. Further, we were one crisis away from this dereliction having a catastrophic effect on our national security. It would be impossible to quickly respond to a military emergency, like another Benghazi, if the President had to play ‘where is Waldo the SecDef’ all day. For that reason alone, everyone who concealed this knowledge needs to resign. But that’s not going to happen – President Biden has announced he has full faith in Austin! And that is a problem in-and-of-itself. How can you exercise effective civilian control over the military, when those in the military are not held accountable for deceiving our civilian leadership? If they would lie about the hospitalization of the Secretary of Defense, what else would they, or are they lying about?

One of the reasons our country has been politically stable is that our civilian political leadership has effective control of our military. However, this tale of deceit calls into question whether we still have effective civilian control of our military, or if the military is now a free agent. This is a question that must be answered, and quickly. If the military is now operating free of civilian control then we have a major problem that has to be fixed quickly. The alternative is that we end up as a banana republic ruled by whatever strongman can gain the loyalty of the military.

Another question no one is asking – how the hell did the President not know his Secretary of Defense was missing for four days? Don’t they talk? I mean there’s two major wars going on that we could potentially get dragged into, our troops in Syria and Iraq are being attacked by Iranian proxies daily, and the Middle East is on the brink of a regional war. It’s like Biden and gang are oblivious to the dangers.

Footnotes