Dem
51
GOP
49
The Biden administration is now stuck in a miniscandal whose details are still obscure. What is known is that a week ago today, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin checked into Walter Reed Medical Center for an as-yet-undisclosed surgical operation. Something went wrong and he is still there. Top officials get sick from time to time and are hospitalized, so what is the big deal?
The big deal is that the DoD treated Austin's hospitalization as a military secret and didn't tell anyone, not even the president, and certainly not the media. Given that the U.S. is closely watching two active wars at the moment, one in Ukraine and one in Israel, maybe the president and Congress ought to know that the Secretary of Defense was offline in a hospital. If Austin had announced that he was going to the hospital for an operation and Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks or the #3 would be taking over temporarily, it wouldn't have even been newsworthy, but by keeping everything secret, it has blown up in his face.
In addition to Austin not telling Biden he was indisposed, he also didn't tell National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. At a meeting of the National Security Council last week, Austin didn't show up, but sent a top Pentagon official, Sasha Baker, in his place. In and of itself, that isn't unusual, but why all the secrecy with no official announcement until last Friday?
This situation is coming at a difficult time of rising tensions. Hezbollah, which is much larger than Hamas, is threatening to invade Israel, which would create a two-front war in a country with the size and population of New Jersey. If Israel were not able to hold its own, some big decisions would have to be made about whether and how much the U.S. would intervene and Austin would be expected to play a major role in the administration's discussions.
As expected in these polarized times, Republicans are trying to exploit Austin's silence to the hilt. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has called Austin's silence unacceptable and suggested he should resign. Fortunately for Austin, Biden seems to be on his side. The two spoke by phone on Saturday and a White House official said Biden has complete confidence in the Secretary. But a serious mistake was made and somebody is going to have to take the blame. Austin tried to preempt that by taking the blame himself on Saturday. Whether that quiets everything down remains to be seen though. (V)