Pentagon probe raises new concerns about Lloyd Austin’s secret 2024 hospitalisation
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US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin failed to tell President Joe Biden and senior staff about his prostate cancer diagnosis and subsequent hospitalisation in 2024.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON - An investigation released on Jan 15 into US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin’s secret 2024 hospitalisation
Mr Austin’s hospitalisation due to complications from prostate cancer surgery was kept secret for days, including from US President Joe Biden, and even Mr Austin’s deputy, Ms Kathleen Hicks.
His secrecy triggered a political uproar, and calls from now President-elect Donald Trump for him to be fired.
“Secretary Austin received several different medications during the morning of Jan 2 that had the potential to affect cognitive functions,” the Pentagon’s independent Inspector-General wrote.
Mr Austin’s authorities were not transferred to his deputy, Ms Hicks, until 2.22pm, according to the report.
She did not learn he was hospitalised until Jan 4, the report said.
The Pentagon had previously denied he was under any medications that could have impacted his judgment before a transfer of authority.
The department’s spokesman, Major-General Patrick Ryder, said on Jan 9: “I have no indications (of) anything that would affect his decision-making.”
The Inspector-General’s report does not make a medical evaluation about whether Mr Austin was mentally capable of carrying out his responsibilities.
Based on its evaluation of records, it said: “We found no clear evidence that Secretary Austin experienced severe cognitive impairments.”
A senior US defence official who briefed reporters after the report was released declined to give details on what medication Mr Austin was given and what time they were administered on Jan 2.
The official did not have evidence that Mr Austin was not incapacitated.
“I can’t prove the reverse hypothetical, but all I can say was he was able to, and did, carry out his duties and responsibilities and functions while he was at Walter Reed,” the official said.
The report found that Mr Austin failed to meet requirements under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act to notify the US government about his incapacitation during his 2024 hospitalisation, as well as during a 2023 hospitalisation for prostate cancer surgery that he kept secret from his staff.
The public was notified of Mr Austin’s hospitalisation only on Jan 5.
At one point on Jan 3, Ms Kelly Magsamen, Mr Austin’s chief of staff, sent a text message published in the report that expressed frustration that much of the government had been kept in the dark.
“I wish (Secretary Austin) were a normal person but he’s the (Secretary of Defence). We have a big institutional responsibility. He can’t just go totally dark on his staff... Please pass to him that we can’t keep his hospitalisation a secret forever. It’s kind of (a) big deal for him to be in the... And I’m worried sick,” Ms Magsamen wrote. REUTERS
