Anyone who knows how weak and passive the United States has been in the face of provocations from adversaries in the Middle East might conclude that the Secretary of Defense is missing.
And at least for a few days last week, he literally was.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin managed it at a time when power outages were nearly impossible.
He did not notify the White House or other key officials that he was in intensive care.
Needless to say, this is no accidental detail about his life. For example, he regularly does his grocery shopping on Saturday afternoons, or he's giving up points this weekend against the Kansas City Chiefs.
If the Principal Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity were to go missing, perhaps only her personal assistant would notice, and the country would be better off for it.
In contrast, the Secretary of Defense is a fairly important position in the US government. He is in charge of the largest and most important part of the executive branch, and is second in the chain of command after the President of the United States.
He is the central figure in all scenarios critical to U.S. national security, including the decision to launch a nuclear attack.
If a U.S. destroyer were attacked in the Red Sea, we don't want U.S. commanders or senior U.S. officials wondering where the Pentagon is.
Although much remains unresolved, it is known that Austin was admitted to Walter Reed Hospital on December 22nd for an elective medical procedure. Returning to his home, he felt severe pain and returned to the hospital on January 1st, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit.
For some reason, even Austin's deputy secretary, who took over some of his duties, did not learn of his whereabouts until four days after his admission.
Loose lips may sink ships, but the spectacularly dysfunctional lack of communication at the top of the U.S. government is itself a problem.
Just as a freshman at Harvard University cannot escape copying what Claudine Gay did, a private first class cannot expect to remain in the military without doing a job.
The Pentagon said Austin's chief of staff was also sick, so other dignitaries, including the U.S. president, could not be notified.
Are we really supposed to believe that no one in the Department of Defense has access to our phones or emails?
It's clear that we're not living in a time of great bipartisanship, so Austin's absence prompted the House Armed Services Committee's Republican chairmen and Democratic executives to issue a joint statement with detailed information about the era in question. It is worth noting that he so keenly sought .
Unsurprisingly, the White House quickly expressed its “complete trust and confidence in Secretary Austin.”
To be fair, it's hard to make money off someone who was never fired and who led the withdrawal from Afghanistan for any reason other than humiliating the loss of another country.
This debacle could simply be an incredible personal blunder on Austin's own part. But when it comes to national security, this debate comes in the context of an administration that is obsessed with popular ideologies, from DEI to climate change, and the imperatives of maintaining advanced warfighting capabilities. There's no reason not to.
And the most important lack of transparency around health is happening right before our eyes. This does not involve ministers, but the commander-in-chief himself.
We are told that Joe Biden is robust and energetic, even though he has become increasingly unstable and seemingly confusing.
We are confident that if the president's behavior deteriorates, the White House will adopt the Austin policy and do everything in its power to hide the ball.
Meanwhile, we conducted a real-time experiment on Biden foreign policy. As war broke out in Gaza and Iranian proxies attacked U.S. interests across the Middle East, the Secretary of Defense disappeared, but it didn't matter.
