U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testifies before a House Defense Committee hearing on his failure to disclose his cancer diagnosis and subsequent hospitalizations on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on February 29, 2024.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
Republicans criticized Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a hearing Thursday over his handling of his hospitalization in January following his cancer diagnosis.
“It is completely unacceptable that it took three days to tell the president of the United States that the secretary of defense is in the hospital and not in control of the Pentagon,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., the chairman of the House Armed Service Committee.
Thursday’s hearing focused on why the acting defense secretary and the White House were not immediately informed that Austin was hospitalized after complications arose during surgery to treat his prostate cancer.
“This is about judgment, and poor judgment at that,” said Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla. “My teenage daughter knows that if she doesn’t go to work, she has to tell her boss. The Americans, truck drivers and bartenders know they have to tell their boss or they’ll get fired. But you have set different standards for yourself. And that is unacceptable.”
Austin reiterated his apology from earlier this month and said that despite a glitch in notifications during his hospitalization, there were never any lapses in Pentagon authority.
“We didn’t handle it right, and I didn’t handle it right. … As you know, I have apologized, including directly to the president, and I take full responsibility,” Austin said at Thursday’s hearing.
The hearing came just days after an internal Pentagon review that said the process for transferring the secretary’s authority should be improved but that “nothing examined during that review revealed any evidence of malicious intent or an attempt at a cover-up.” resulted”.
Republicans said the incident threatened national security and said the incident showed that President Joe Biden was either distant or Austin was out of touch.
“Our opponents should fear us, and what you did embarrassed us,” said Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind.
Democrats said Austin’s lack of transparency should not be repeated but said lawmakers should focus on funding the government and providing aid to Ukraine.
“Instead of badgering the defense secretary about his exact approach to this situation, we should go ahead and pass the national security amendment,” said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Austin said the Pentagon has already implemented some of the largely secret internal review changes. The Defense Department’s inspector general is also conducting an investigation into the incident.
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2024-02-29 18:58:41
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