The Lawless Actions of Lloyd Austin

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 of 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 inform anyone at the West Wing, but no one down there even cared. It’s not like we 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 Austin and the Pentagon to keep the right people legally informed.

In the case of his January hospitalization, Austin did not transfer his authority to Deputy Secretary Hicks until days after he was hospitalized. Hicks, in turn, once she had 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.

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, in the case of Austin’s surgery in December, 2023, while he was under general anesthesia, there was no notification of the White House or Congress until January 8, when he was already hospitalized for the second time.

Just to make the pattern clear, Austin was hospitalized for a third time, in February, 2024, because of “significant medical complications.” This time as well, despite Austin’s testimony to the contrary, the OIG found no evidence that Austin had transferred his authority.

The OIG found that the “…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 his training and staff support, Austin failed multiple times to follow the required procedures regarding the transfer of authority and notification regarding vacancies.

The OIG found that Austin’s failures to notify during these many months can be traced to his desire for privacy — a desire which Austin knew, from his years as a public servant, is not an option. In fact, such a desire for privacy on the part of a critical government official is so ridiculous that it cannot even considered a viable excuse.

Finally, not only did he fail to tell anyone, but nobody in DC even knew that he was missing.

Yet not only was Austin not fired, he got something of a send-off that is eerily similar to what you would find in say… North Korea.

I am in favor of recalling General 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 Secretary Austin, given that his bad 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.