Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin faced sharp criticism on Sunday as details emerged about the degree to which senior officials, including President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, were left in the dark about Austin’s multiday hospital stay.
Austin was admitted to the hospital on New Year’s Day due to complications from an elective surgery, but Biden was not informed that his civilian leader of the military was hospitalized until January 4, when national security adviser Jake Sullivan told him, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Austin remains hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center “but is recovering well and in good spirits,” Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement on Sunday. The Pentagon does not yet know when he will be released, Ryder said.
Austin was hospitalized following an elective medical procedure he had on December 22, while he was on leave, Ryder said. He returned home the following day, but on the evening of January 1 he “began experiencing severe pain” and was transported to Walter Reed via ambulance.
“He was placed in the hospital’s intensive care unit to ensure immediate access to due to his medical needs, but then remained in that location in part due to hospital space considerations and privacy,” Ryder said.
Hicks, who began assuming some of Austin’s responsibilities on January 2, did not know that it was because Austin was hospitalized, two defense officials told CNN. Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time and was not informed of Austin’s hospitalization until the afternoon of January 4, the officials said.
Blinken, in response to a reporter’s question at a news conference in Qatar on Sunday, said he “wasn’t aware” of Austin’s medical issue at the…
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