The Pentagon had kept the hospitalisation of its head Lloyd Austin under wraps for four days. Austin himself spoke about his hospital admission after it happened when his condition improved. The incident has sparked massive uproar among American citizens and in the White House, the Congress and the National Security Council. Experts trust the Pentagon concealed the fact for a reason, as the incident indicates deep internal political issues in Washington.
On January 1, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalised with complications ‘following a recent elective medical procedure’. This was reported on Friday, January 5, by the Pentagon’s spokesperson Patrick Ryder. Todd Starnes, a radio host, questioned the reason why the Pentagon had decided to hide the hospital admission of the US Defence Secretary from the public.
Moreover, there were no references to Austin’s health made not only for the public but also for the White House, Politico reports. According to the newspaper, Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor, informed Joe Biden about Austin’s hospitalization only on January 4 after he had been made aware of that himself.
The newspaper’s sources believe it is unlikely Austin informed Biden privately. In their opinion, if Sullivan was not aware, neither the President was. The news shocked everyone in the White House. The National Security Council officials were surprised it had taken the Pentagon so much time.
The Congress was notified even later, on Friday, January 5, fifteen minutes before the public disclosure. According to the newspaper, the hospitalisation was concealed also from high-ranking Pentagon officials and leaders of the Congress. Some officials learned the news from the press release.
Austin himself admitted the office should have informed the media and the public earlier and took the responsibility for the secrecy. “I commit to doing better”, promised the official.
‘There are many strange things around this story. But it is quite obvious we are seeing a flaw in the US governance framework. Moreover, it is unclear what they treated Austin from, we only know he was in intensive care’, says Dmitry Drobnitsky, a political expert on America.
‘Interestingly enough, neither the White House nor the National Security Council or the relevant Congress committee were appropriately informed. Strictly speaking, there is no law making Pentagon officials inform the Administration about such matters. At the same time, it should be noted a critical element of the agency dropped out of the system’, he adds.
‘Also, as it becomes clear right now, only a part of Austin’s functions were transferred to his deputy during his absence. Overall, what we are seeing in the US with Biden’s Administration is the dissolution of the state governance framework. This started already with Trump but back then it was because the ex-president was ‘bound hand and foot’. With Biden, though, the infighting is gaining pace affecting the national governance’, the expert argues.
‘Yes, the state machinery is still working and moving, but we have been observing flaws over and again, with the erosion becoming even more distinct. It is also obvious the US has been increasingly struggling to take serious decisions or reaching agreement on different matters. I believe this will be an overarching trend of 2024’, states the expert.
‘I assume when Austin’s health issues appeared the Pentagon had long hesitated whether to notify Sullivan or not at all. After all, being the national security advisor, he is also a supporter of the Clintons’ ‘clan’, while the Pentagon head is commonly believed to be following Obama’s ideas. This has an important role to play in today’s political context’, notes the analyst.
‘Also, in the context of this wrestle, it is not even possible to forecast if the Pentagon’s operations stalled during Austin’s absence. As a matter of fact, some secret processes could have been happening inside the agency, of which we will learn only in a few months’, underlined Drobnitsky. The political expert on America Malek Dudakov, in his turn, points out another issue of the US state governance framework exposed by the hospitalisation of the Pentagon head.
‘In a sense, Lloyd Austin is a regular official who has delegated his functions to his aides. However, the incident itself is a vivid example of gerontocracy prevailing in Washington. The Pentagon’s head is not a young person, he is 70 and Biden is even older. People tend to get sick quite often at this age being unable to perform their duties’, he explained.
Yet, there is an opinion that the White House knew about Austin’s hospital admission and even could be directly linked with the medical examination of the official. Boris Mezhuev, a political scientist, assumes all this can be related to the political struggle inside the US and the situation around Ukraine.
‘It is not unlikely that Austin has been named the main actor responsible for the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. We recall that recently there have been multiple leaks that the CIA head Burns has warned of the Russian defence preparedness level’, he notes. ‘Back then, it was discussed that the Ukrainian army offensive would fail in any scenario. However, Austin insisted on the opposite. It seems today, when the time of so-called blamestorming has come, a reliable rationale has to be found as to why the Pentagon head needs to leave the office temporarily’, the expert believes.
‘The White House could have ‘advised’ that Austin had his checkup promising to keep this chicanery secret from the public and the Congress. And I won’t be surprised if we soon will hear the Pentagon say its head would want to stand against Russia together with Biden but cannot do so due to his health issues’, Mezhuev concluded.