Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December and had undergone surgery to treat it. He had been hospitalized on New Year’s Day due to complications in what the Department of Defense (DoD) described at the time as an “elective medical procedure.”
Austin did not inform the White House of his hospitalization until after he was released and did not reveal his prostate cancer diagnosis until Tuesday.
Human Evans editor and former naval intelligence officer Jack Posobiec noted that Austin's hospitalization was "not only secret from the American people," but "so secret that even the administration didn't know. That even, potentially, members of the military didn't know."
Posobiec noted he has friends in the military who are currently deployed overseas in foreign conflicts, such as the war in the Middle East that erupted after the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.
"They had no idea about this," he said. "The combatant commanders don't know about this."
"This is a nightmare," Posobiec added. "The Biden administration has no idea what's going on. Congress is apparently asleep at the wheel on this. Lloyd Austin should step down immediately. He needs to be prosecuted. All of his aides need to be prosecuted ... They're all lying to you."
Posobiec compared the situation to similar incidents in Russia involving secrecy surrounding the health conditions of leadership.
"This is what they said was going on behind the scenes in the Kremlin. They said that Putin was in a coma," Posobiec said. The Kremlin also claimed that Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu "was incapacitated."
"Well it turns out it's our military leadership that's completely incapacitated and really we're the ones that are losing it," Posobiec concluded. "Lloyd Austin, the nation's most prominent diversity hire has gone AWOL ... We are the DEI, LGBT, gay Soviet Union. Get used to it, folks. The doors are flying off of brand new airplanes the same way that doors are flying off the Biden administration."
Biden was first informed on Tuesday by his chief of staff, Jeff Zients, of Austin's early December diagnosis and subsequent surgery on Dec. 22, according to National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby.
Austin, who was admitted to the hospital on Dec. 22, underwent a prostatectomy, and was under general anesthesia during the procedure, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Austin recovered and went home the next morning. He had transferred some authorities to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, the Pentagon said.
However, on Jan. 1, Austin suffered nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain. Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection, and on Jan. 1, he went to the intensive care unit, where evaluation revealed abdominal fluid collections impairing his small intestine function. A tube had to be placed through his nose to drain his stomach. During that stay, Austin never lost consciousness, the Pentagon said.
Sometime on Jan. 2, Austin transferred some of his authorities to Hicks but did not inform her he was in the hospital until Jan. 4, when he informed National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who then told Biden. He assumed full responsibility of his duties on Jan. 5. However, it was not until Jan. 9 that Austin informed Team Biden of his prostate cancer diagnosis and surgery.
In the end, it is not likely Austin will be fired or face any real accountability because, as Posobiec noted, he is one of Team Biden's top diversity hires.
The closest any Democrat would come to criticizing Austin came from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed. The Rhode Island Democrat, an Army veteran, scolded Austin in a statement on Monday:
"I remain concerned that vital chain of command and notification procedures were not followed while the Secretary was under medical care. He is taking responsibility for the situation, but this was a serious incident and there needs to be transparency and accountability from the Department.
"This lack of disclosure must never happen again. I am tracking the situation closely and the Department of Defense is well aware of my interest in any and all relevant information."
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby acknowledged that “this didn’t unfold the way it should have on so many levels, not just the notification process of the chain of command, but the transparency issue,” but defended Austin as “exceptional” and said Joe Biden still has confidence in him.
Kirby also put the blame squarely on Austin instead of Biden.
“What happened here is the secretary of defense for whatever reason — I can’t answer the question why — that information wasn’t shared widely in the department, and it certainly wasn’t shared with you,” Kirby told the press. “It’s certainly not good, which is why, again, we want to learn from this. We want to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
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