Congress Demands Accountability From Defense Secretary Over Delayed Hospitalization Disclosure

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee wants the Pentagon to send someone to Capitol Hill to testify about its delayed transparency over Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's hospitalization. 

“We should have a quick hearing about this and find out to what extent the department has ignored the statutory requirement over and over,” said Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee. “We’re told today that this sort of transfer of power happens frequently.”

Wicker said he hasn’t spoken with Austin directly but had a scheduled call Monday evening with Kathleen Hicks, the deputy secretary. 

The Pentagon announced Friday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized on New Year’s Day “for complications following a recent elective medical procedure.” But it failed to alert the White House and Congress for several days, leaving President Joe Biden, his national security team and key lawmakers in the dark.

Austin remains at Walter Reed Medical Center, where the Defense Department said Monday he is no longer in the intensive care unit. The Pentagon said Austin is in “good condition,” “recovering well and in good spirits,” but it’s unclear when he’ll be released.

If Austin were to testify, Wicker said, the committee would need to accommodate him being in the hospital. “But we need to get to the bottom of it,” he said, “and they really need to do a full disclosure.”

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who chairs the committee, said he spoke to Austin over the weekend. 

“He’s already made it quite clear … that he’s responsible, that they should have notified the president and they should have notified some other individuals,” Reed told reporters. “But throughout this process, the chain of command was still operational.”

Senators on both sides of the aisle, including those on the committee, expressed concern over Austin’s lapse in judgment. 

“I’m a big fan of his,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told The Messenger. “He obviously made a mistake in not saying as much, but I don’t know the details.”

Durbin, who said he’s worried about Austin’s health, took a breath when asked if there should be a congressional hearing. “Let’s find out what happened first,” he said.

Sen. Ben Cardin, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, similarly said Congress needs to “find out what the circumstances are” without necessarily calling for a hearing.

“Let’s find out what happened,” Cardin, D-Md., said. “I don’t want to speculate, so let’s find out what happened.”

“Clearly, there was a failure of communication, and that needs to be resolved,” committee member Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, told The Messenger. “I do think that the DOD needs to tell us that this is never going to happen again. I’m not saying that this is information that needed to be made public, but obviously the White House needed to know and DOD people.”

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., another member of the panel, said he found the situation “really disturbing” and called on Congress to investigate “the broken chain of command.”

Sen. Joni Ernst, who also sits on the committee, said “it’s absolutely unacceptable” for Austin to be absent and not report a transfer of power, especially with conflicts raging overseas in Ukraine and Gaza and Houthis attacking Americans and U.S. carrier ships.

Ernst, R-Iowa, didn’t go so far as to say Austin should resign but stressed that while lawmakers will get more clarity over the next few days, “We need oversight of this.”

Republicans who don’t sit on the Armed Services Committee went even further than their GOP colleagues who do, with one exception.

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., for example, called it “unbelievably dangerous and incompetent to not let the White House know that the man in charge of our Defense Department is not in the office.” 

Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, called for Austin’s firing in a Fox News appearance. In an interview with The Messenger, he said the committee “should absolutely hold a hearing to figure out what happened.”

“There’s actually a lot of basic functionality of government questions that are raised by this thing, and I think somebody should be asking them,” Vance said. “SASC is the place to do it.”

And Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he thinks Austin should’ve resigned years ago after 13 service members died in Afghanistan under his leadership. 

“Lloyd Austin has been a terrible secretary of Defense,” Hawley said. Nevertheless, he said, Congress needs to figure out what the status of his health is, who’s running the Pentagon and what did Biden know and when.

“This is Mickey Mouse stuff, and these are very serious jobs so I think he should resign,” added Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., a committee member. 

Schmitt said he has no confidence in Hicks, the deputy defense secretary, but argued that “I don’t think Austin should be the top guy for the job anymore.”

In the House, lawmakers also demanded answers.  Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Adam Smith, D-Wash., the chairman and top-ranking Democrat of the House Armed Services Committee, issued a joint statement on Sunday.
 
“Several questions remain unanswered including what the medical procedure and resulting complications were, what the Secretary’s current health status is, how and when the delegation of the Secretary’s responsibilities were made, and the reason for the delay in notification to the President and Congress,” they said.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., a member of the committee, went further Monday — calling on Austin to resign.

Warren Rojas contributed reporting.