Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin acknowledged Thursday at a rare press conference at the Pentagon that he mishandled cancer diagnoses, treatments and readmissions.
Mr. Austin underwent surgery to treat prostate cancer on December 22nd and was readmitted to the hospital on January 1st due to complications, but neither the Vice President nor President Joe Biden confirmed this until January 4th. I did not know. Austin said Thursday at the Pentagon that he was “disappointed” that his desire for privacy led him to inadvertently override his obligation to inform his superiors and the American public of a health condition that could affect his ability to perform his duties. admitted.
“We didn’t handle this right. I couldn’t handle this right,” Austin said. (Related article: US identifies group behind deadly attack on US troops)
“A broader audience should have been notified, especially the president,” he said.
Austin added that while he never explicitly instructed his staff to cover up these events, he cannot be held responsible for the decisions they made on his behalf.
When Austin experienced unusual complications from the surgery, including leg and abdominal pain, officials called an ambulance to take him from his home in Great Falls, Virginia, to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.
“I’m trying to be a little bit discreet,” the officer who made the initial 911 call told dispatchers, according to highly edited audio recordings obtained by DCNF and other news organizations.
Austin dodged questions about the conference call and other areas where the chain of command or communication may have broken down, split into two ongoing reviews that are expected to conclude soon.
The public learned of his hospitalization on January 5, shortly after Congress was notified, and shortly after Biden’s Deputy Secretary of State Kathleen Hicks and top national security officials received the news. Ta. He resumed full duties as defense secretary on the same day, but Hicks, who was on leave at the time, had already fulfilled some of his responsibilities without knowing the reason for the transfer.
He apologized to the president for not disclosing the news privately and said Biden “responded with grace and warmth.”
“Frankly, my first instinct was to keep it private,” he said. “But I learned from this experience that taking this kind of job means losing some of the privacy that most of us expect.”
Lawmakers are calling for Austin to resign over the incident.
live: @SecDef Lloyd J. Austin III briefs reporters at the Pentagon. https://t.co/5XvZVE9Arz
— Department of Defense🇺🇸 (@Deptof Defense) February 1, 2024
Austin returned to work at the Pentagon for the first time on Monday, nearly a month after being hospitalized. Thursday’s public appearance follows a month of violent conflict in the Middle East, including an Iranian-backed militia attack that killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded at least 40 on Jan. 28. It is.
Biden administration officials have been hinting at a drastic response in recent days.
“We’re going to have a multi-tiered response. And again, we have the ability to respond as many times as the situation requires,” Austin said.
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