John Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence in the Trump administration, said on Tuesday's broadcast of FOX News Channel's “The Story” that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin deserves critical attention, but this incident “It's actually an indictment of the United States,” he said. The entire Biden national security team. ” Because anyone who had cared enough to hold a large meeting about attacks on U.S. forces would have noticed Austin's absence.
Ratcliffe said: “Obviously, there's a lot of attention on Director Austin and the role he played here, and there should be, but a lot of people are saying that this whole episode is actually an indictment of Director Austin. I think you're missing the big picture.” The entire Biden national security team. Look, what we're focusing on here is the concerns that we have about adversaries like Putin and Xi not following processes and procedures and the explanations that you've heard and how they're saying, “Look, there's a gap. It's not just about trying to say, “That never happened, somebody always said that.'' They held their hands. Martha, what I'm concerned about is the message we're sending to the military about protecting them. That is, we don't care. What they don't tell you about Martha…is that from the time of Secretary Austin's first surgery until he was found inactive, there were 13 attacks on U.S. forces. And from January 1st to January 4th alone, there were eight attacks. And what we learned is that the number of major meetings, meetings where Cabinet members of Biden's national security team discussed this issue was zero. we know that. Because somebody got together to talk about what to do about the protection of the military, what to do about the protection of the military, what to do. [were] What is the nature and extent of the damage? Someone must have noticed that Director Austin was missing. ”
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