As the Biden administration closes up shop, the scandals keep coming. The following, regarding Lloyd Austin, might seem like small potatoes but that’s only in comparison to all the rest and speaks to a larger pattern of mismanagement and lawlessness.
Anybody remember this from last year?
”Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was released from the hospital on Monday, the Pentagon announced, two weeks after he was admitted for complications from prostate-cancer surgery. Doctors treating Austin, whose absence went undisclosed by the Pentagon for nearly a week, assured that the Defense Secretary was expected to make a full recovery but would work remotely ‘for a period of time’…
…. Austin entered Walter Reed National Military Hospital on New Year’s Day but failed to notify the White House of his hospitalization until January 4. During his absence, Austin transferred authority to Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who was then in Puerto Rico on vacation and unaware of her boss’s health problems.”
There are two scandals here. The first is that Austin never informed the White House that he was out of action and had transferred authority to his deputy. That’s a major no-no in any organization, but especially with the Secretary of Defense given his place in the presidential succession, his possession of nuclear codes, and the fact that the various US combat commands report directly to him.
The second scandal is even worse because it’s clear that it’s rare for anyone in the White House to speak with the Secretary of Defense. After all almost an entire week went by and nobody was asking “Where’s Lloyd?” Not only didn’t Austin not inform anyone at the West Wing, but no one down there even cared. It’s not like we didn’t have troops in harm’s way around the globe right?
Back during the Obama administration, there was a lot of scuttlebutt about how his various secretaries of defense, notably Hagel and Gates, felt sidelined regarding military matters. We now see that same pattern during the Biden administration which places the various military debacles from Afghanistan to the Gaza pier in a new light.
This week the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report detailing Austin’s health problems over a three-month period and the failure of both he and the Pentagon to keep the right people legally informed.
In the case of his January hospitalization, Austin did not transfer of authority to Deputy Secretary Hicks until days after he was hospitalized. Hicks in turn, once she received such a transfer, failed to immediately notify either the White House Situation Room or Congress as she was required to by law and national security procedures.
However it doesn’t end there.
During Austin’s January hospitalization, and after he regained his authority from Hicks, he twice underwent procedures which should have necessitated his transferring authority again, but he failed to do so. In fact during Austin’s surgery in December, 2023 while he was under general anesthesia, no notification was made until January 8, while he was already hospitalized the second time
Just to make the pattern clear, Austin was hospitalized for a third time in February, 2024 because of “significant medical complications.” Despite his testimony to the contrary, the OIG found no evidence that he had transferred his authority.
The OIG found that “…Secretary’s strong desire for privacy about his medical condition that the OIG found was consistent throughout all of the reviewed events.”
So let’s review:
We have a Secretary of Defense, Austin, who is a retired four-star general. A man who is not only well-schooled by that long experience on the need to follow procedure, but understands the necessity of keeping the chain-of-command informed. Austin, as a retired military officer, also knows the importance of staff to keep him appraised of rules and procedures. So ignorance is not a defense.
Despite that training and staff support, Austin failed to follow procedures multiple times regarding the transfer of authority and notification regarding vacancies.
The OIG finds that Austin’s actions through these many months can be traced to a desire for privacy. A condition which Austin knew from his years as a public servant, is not an option. In fact such a repeated desire is so ridiculous that it cannot even considered a viable excuse.
Finally, not only does he fail to do so to tell anyone, but nobody in DC even knows that he is missing.
Yet not only wasn’t Austin fired, but he gets something of a send-off that is eerily similar to what you would find in say… North Korea
I am in favor of recalling Milley to active service so he can be court-martialed for his actions in January, 2021. I don’t think you can do the same for Austin given his conduct happened while he was a civilian, but I am open to suggestions regarding prosecution.
As for the rest of the scandal, just put it on Biden’s already too long tab.
The SecDef is the link between the President and the Unified Combatant Commanders. The line of operational control (OPCON) runs from the SecDef directly to those Combatant Commanders (note that it does not run thru the Joint Staff. In fact the JCS Chairman holds no command authorities whatsoever).
The lines of administrative control (ADCON, the responsibility for organizing, recruiting, training, equipping, etc.) start with the Service secretaries and run through their Service chief (a pass-through; they don’t actually execute anything) out to the major commands. Again, the JCS Chairman is not in this chain.
So not only was the SecDef missing in action, and unable to provide guidance to the warfighters, Milley was exercising authorities he didn’t have by law.