The story that dropped late Friday about Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin just keeps getting worse and worse.

For those who didn’t follow all the updates, here is what we know so far. Lloyd Austin had a “minor surgical elective procedure,” but somehow ended up in the intensive care unit at Walter Reed after said procedure. Someone – and we don’t know WHO – made the decision to NOT inform anyone that the Secretary of Defense was in the ICU and completely out of commission.

The media was not told – and two groups have complained formally about it, especially because the Pentagon did a press briefing last Thursday and said nothing.

Congress was not told.

The White House was not told. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan apparently learned about Austin being hospitalized on THURSDAY, at which point Sullivan apparently told Joe Biden. So no one in the White House was even informed until the day before the Pentagon dropped the press release!

And for all the Pentagon’s assurances that it was totally okay that Lloyd Austin was in the ICU without telling anyone because Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks was available and on the job? Uh, she was on vacation in Puerto Rico when all of this went down, and we are just learning that SHE WASN’T TOLD EITHER. Yes, you are reading that correctly. Hicks was apparently not told that Lloyd Austin was hospitalized.

NEWS

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks was not informed that the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized in intensive care when she took over his duties while she was on vacation in Puerto Rico.

Hicks only learned that Austin had been hospitalized on… pic.twitter.com/N8qfM7u4MC

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 7, 2024

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, the Pentagon’s number two leader, was among the senior leaders kept in the dark about Austin’s true whereabouts until Thursday, three days after the secretary checked into Walter Reed medical center following complications from an elective surgery. Not even the president was aware of Austin’s hospitalization until three days into his stay there, CNN previously reported.

The revelation that not even Hicks knew that Austin was hospitalized is sure to add to questions swirling within the administration about why his status was kept secret, not only from the public but from senior national security officials and the White House.

Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told CNN on Sunday that Austin transferred “certain operational responsibilities that require constant secure communications capabilities” to Hicks on January 2, the day after he was admitted to Walter Reed. Throughout last week, Hicks made “some routine operational and management decisions” for the Pentagon and was authorized to support the president.

But Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time, was not informed of Austin’s hospitalization until the afternoon of January 4, the defense officials said. Ryder told CNN that it is “not uncommon” for the secretary to transfer certain responsibilities without providing a specific reason as to why such a transfer is needed.

At that point, Hicks began to make contingency plans to return to Washington, DC, on Friday, the official said. But because Austin was expected to return to his full duties—albeit from the hospital—on Friday, she decided to stay in Puerto Rico to ensure continuity of communications.

What the actual hell is going on at the Pentagon???

“There are all of these people around the secretary at all times, who manage him and help him on a day-to-day basis, and no one had the wherewithal to even tell the White House?” said one Pentagon official. “I’m surprised no one is using the word ‘cover-up’ yet.”

Ryder told CNN on Sunday that Austin “has no plans to resign” over the episode, which has left many Pentagon officials deeply frustrated and questioning why they were kept in the dark. The White House insists that President Joe Biden—who did not learn that Austin was hospitalized until three days after the secretary checked into Walter Reed medical center on January 1—still has full confidence in Austin. The two had a “cordial” conversation on Saturday evening, the White House said, in which Biden told Austin he looked forward to having him back at work.

This entire situation is beyond insane, and that Austin is attempting to take full responsibility after the fact does not tell us who made the call IN THE MOMENT to conceal Austin’s true state of health. Someone made the decision to not inform everyone who should have been informed that the Secretary of Defense was hospitalized, and had transferred responsibilities to the deputy secretary for that reason. As the media keeps pointing out, this is NOT normal. Biden undergoes a colonoscopy, the press is informed that Harris is in charge (God help us). Attorney General Merrick Garland had surgery in 2022, the press was told about it. The Marine Corps commandant, General Eric Smith, had a heart attack and the press was immediately informed. The more secretive that Austin and his camp become, the more that it looks like there is something to hide.

And as Marc Thiessen points out, there is a problem when the White House is so disconnected that they don’t know what’s going on at the Pentagon (not to mention the utter fail on the Pentagon’s part).

Another question: How is it that with hundreds of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria and the Red Sea, and wars raging in Europe and the Middle East, that the president and his top advisors went three days without speaking to his secretary of defense?

This is as embarrassing… https://t.co/xG0ybQs8LT

— Marc Thiessen 🇺🇸❤️🇺🇦🇹🇼🇮🇱 (@marcthiessen) January 7, 2024

The two tweets read:

When I worked in OSD for Rumsfeld the SecDef and DepSecDef could not travel at the same time so that one was always in the Pentagon and there was no risk of the chain of command being interrupted.

The idea that the SecDef would be incapacitated and not inform his deputy or the commander in chief is unthinkable

Another question: How is it that with hundreds of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria and the Red Sea, and wars raging in Europe and the Middle East, that the president and his top advisors went three days without speaking to his secretary of defense?

This is as embarrassing for the White House as for SECDEF.

To be clear, the Secretary of Defense was laid the fuck out in the ICU and his aides told everyone he was just working from home. This is insane. pic.twitter.com/XnbBfPbYvR

— Vanessa (@Nessakins_) January 7, 2024

All of that adds up to an obvious conclusion. Austin is taking full responsibility for hiding his hospitalization (even though there is no way that he could have consented to that from the ICU), so the buck stops with him. Joe Biden should fire Lloyd Austin, immediately. If the Secretary of Defense is actively covering up the fact that he is incapacitated to the point of being in intensive care from EVERYONE, including his boss (Biden) and his own immediate deputy (Hicks), then he cannot be trusted and should be shown the door RIGHT NOW, if not yesterday. If Biden was actually in charge of his own administration, or gave two shits about being an effective Commander-in-Chief, he would fire Austin.

But he won’t, because as we all know, Biden is too damned chicken to fire ANYONE, no matter how colossally they f**k up. Did anyone lose their job over the absolute disaster that was the withdrawl from Afghanistan? NOPE. Did anyone lose their job or resign over the droning of an innocent Afghan family who got fingered as ISIS-K in Kabul? NOPE. So will Austin be held to account for this? If people aren’t fired for their incompetence or f**K ups, and people die as a result, do you really think that Lloyd Austin will be fired for simply making Biden look weak and ineffectual as the head of the Executive Branch? NOPE.

In an administration run by a strong executive, Austin would be offered the chance to resign, or be fired. That the administration will try to sweep this under the rug is a disgrace. Will Congress, or the media, let them get away with it? I guess we will find out the moment the next White House press briefing happens.

Featured photo: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, official 2023 portrait by Chad J. McNeeley for the U.S. Department of Defense, public domain