Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testified in front of the House Armed Services Committee Thursday morning in a hearing devoted to uncovering still unknown information about his January hospitalization.
The hearing did not do much in the way of fact finding — especially where the four-day period in which President Joe Biden was unaware of Austin’s absence was concerned — but it did reveal that the Pentagon’s top official either does not know or will not say who gave the order for his deputy to assume his duties while Austin recovered.
Under questioning from Representative Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.), Austin clarified that he was unable, because of his location and lack of access to secure communications, to make the decision to temporarily remove himself from duty.
Austin said repeatedly that “the decision was made,” but upon being pressed on who exactly made the decision to temporarily step aside and refrain from informing the American people, he said he did not know the answer.
Austin’s top aides did not know he was receiving a medical procedure that would necessitate a lengthy stay in the hospital, defense officials told the Wall Street Journal and it remains unclear who gave the order to transfer authority to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico when she learned she’d be assuming command.
Austin claimed there had been no negative bureaucratic consequences as a result of the confusion.
Austin maintained during the hearing that he did not direct any members of his staff to withhold information about his physical health from the president while he received care following complications from prostate cancer treatment, but that it was a “breakdown in communication” that led to a state of affairs in which the secretary of defense was not on the job for three days without the president knowing.
“What we didn’t do well was the notification of senior leaders,” Austin told the committee, but he maintained throughout the hearing that there was never a breakdown in the chain of command during his absence and that “there was never a lapse of authorities.”
Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) recalled a January 4 U.S. strike against an Iranian militia leader in Iraq — a strike that occurred during the period of time in which Biden was unaware of Austin’s absence. Had Iran responded to the strike, Austin’s absence “would have caused delays, and that is unacceptable,” she said.
Many Democrats on the committee focused on their desire to see an appropriations bill passed with funding for military supplies for Ukraine and aid to Israel rather than the subject on which the hearing was meant to be focused.
“It is not you or your health emergency that is the problem,” Representative John Garamendi (D., Calif.), who admonished his Republican colleagues, saying “the dereliction of duty is right here on the dais.”
Representative Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.) elaborated on a similar idea, claiming that the hearing was nothing more than a distraction.
“If we want to get to national security and the greatest threat to national security,” Slotkin said, “polarization is the greatest threat . . . Watch the outrage, and you can correlate that to how much they don’t want to talk about sucking up to whoever, to their political masters.”
Representative Ro Khanna (D., Calif.), for his part, excoriated Austin over the United States’ support for Israel in its response to the October 7 Hamas attack, citing casualty statistics from the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health and asking Austin to commit to halt assistance to Israel should its military enter Rafah to neutralize Hamas. He said “there has to be some consequence” for Israel.
“That’s not my decision,” Austin said, but he noted that he has been in close communication with Israeli military leaders to encourage them to exercise caution in the prosecution of their war against the terrorist organization. Like Khanna, Austin used Hamas statistics, saying Israel has killed “over 25 thousand” children in its military operation in Gaza.
Getting back to the issue at hand, GOP members of the committee addressed the more symbolic aspects of Austin’s unexplained absence.
“Secretary, our enemies should fear us,” Representative Jim Banks (R., Ind.) said, “but what you did embarrassed us.”
Though Austin himself said he has great confidence that he will remain atop the Pentagon, the Department of Defense is conducting its own internal investigation into the matter.