The Pentagon Inspector General released a scathing report Wednesday about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s failure to alert the White House and his senior staff about his hospitalization in early 2024, noting that his actions risked national security “unnecessarily.”
Austin, suffering from complications after surgery for prostate cancer, had sought to keep his condition and the fact that he had been incapacitated while under general anesthesia secret from President Joe Biden and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks.
Robert Storch, the Pentagon Inspector General, said in a statement that Austin’s failure to make proper notifications jeopardized national security.
“Although we found no adverse consequences to (Department of Defense) operations arising from how the hospitalizations we reviewed were handled, the risks to our national defense, including the command and control of the DoD’s critical national security operations, were increased unnecessarily.”
A Defense official, briefing reporters Wednesday on condition of anonymity, said there was never a gap in command and control between Austin and his handoff of authority to Hicks while he underwent the treatment.
Although there was potential risk at the Pentagon, nothing untoward occurred, according to a second official who also was not authorized to speak publicly.
