{"id":203775,"date":"2024-01-08T09:49:18","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T13:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=203775"},"modified":"2024-01-08T09:49:18","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T13:49:18","slug":"pentagon-chief-lloyd-austin-was-mia-for-5-days-how-come-no-one-noticed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=203775","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin Was MIA for 5 Days; How Come No One Noticed?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AustinPentagon-660x330-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"330\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-203776\" srcset=\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AustinPentagon-660x330-1.jpg 660w, http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AustinPentagon-660x330-1-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>SOLDIER OF FORTUNE<\/p>\n<p><em>When the Secretary of Defense was off work and in an intensive care unit over the course of four days, no one at the Pentagon nor in Washington even knew he was gone.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The U.S. security world is rightly astounded and outraged that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spent five days in hospital \u2013 including four in an intensive care unit \u2013 before the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/Releases\/Release\/Article\/3633270\/statement-from-pentagon-press-secretary-maj-gen-pat-ryder-on-secretary-of-defen\/\">Pentagon let drop a sanitized version of the news<\/a>\u00a0late on Friday evening. Much of the outrage has centered on the revelation that neither Austin nor the Pentagon told anyone the Secretary of Defense was out of commission. The most pressing question, though, is why, over the course of five days, no one knew he was gone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t notice because nothing was different,\u201d according to one source who works at the Pentagon. \u201cIt\u2019s not like the leader suddenly vanished.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The source echoed two others who similarly said they saw no change inside the Pentagon when Austin went into hospital.<\/p>\n<p>The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.<\/p>\n<p>The news emerged Jan. 5 when Pentagon spokesman\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/Releases\/Release\/Article\/3633270\/statement-from-pentagon-press-secretary-maj-gen-pat-ryder-on-secretary-of-defen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder announced<\/a>\u00a0that Austin had been hospitalized since New Year\u2019s Day. In his statement, Ryder took pains to note that the country\u2019s defense was in good hands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt all times, the Deputy Secretary of Defense [Kathleen Hicks] was prepared to act for and exercise the powers of the Secretary, if required,\u201d Ryder wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement was made so much under the radar that I learned about it from a Russian news site, while scanning for updates on the Russian Ministry of Defense. By that point, the American media had not sent out any news alerts about Austin.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfdGltZWxpbmVfbGlzdCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOltdLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2ZvbGxvd2VyX2NvdW50X3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9iYWNrZW5kIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19yZWZzcmNfc2Vzc2lvbiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZm9zbnJfc29mdF9pbnRlcnZlbnRpb25zX2VuYWJsZWQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X21peGVkX21lZGlhXzE1ODk3Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRyZWF0bWVudCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3Nob3dfYmlyZHdhdGNoX3Bpdm90c19lbmFibGVkIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19kdXBsaWNhdGVfc2NyaWJlc190b19zZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdXNlX3Byb2ZpbGVfaW1hZ2Vfc2hhcGVfZW5hYmxlZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdmlkZW9faGxzX2R5bmFtaWNfbWFuaWZlc3RzXzE1MDgyIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRydWVfYml0cmF0ZSIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfbGVnYWN5X3RpbWVsaW5lX3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9mcm9udGVuZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1743495450190028963&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fsofmag.com%2Flloyd-austin-was-mia-for-5-days-no-one-noticed%2F&amp;sessionId=33c88034b63a771b34047398d97d457144685325&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1743495450190028963\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. news media was not alone in the dark.<\/p>\n<p>According to officials at the Pentagon and in the White House, the few cognoscenti did not even tell President Joe Biden that Austin was in hospital. Nor did they tell anyone in Congress, nor high ranking officials in the Department of Defense, nor the National Security Council. On Friday night, though, the news trickled out.<\/p>\n<p>Outraged reaction spread through Washington.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), who sits on the Armed Services Committee, honed in on the repercussions for national security.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Secretary of Defense is the key link in the chain of command between the president and the uniformed military, including the nuclear chain of command, when the weightiest of decisions must be made in minutes,\u201d Cotton wrote in a Saturday statement. \u201cIf this report is true, there must be consequences for this shocking breakdown.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Pentagon violated its own<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/Resources\/Principles-of-Information\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u00a0Principles of Information<\/a>, according to a statement from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/militaryreporters.org\/2024\/01\/mre-protests-pentagon-silence-on-defense-secretarys-hospitalization\/\">Military Reporters &amp; Editors<\/a>\u00a0professional association, for which I am secretary of the board.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Pentagon had ample opportunity to disclose Secretary Austin\u2019s absence including during a media briefing on Thursday,\u201d MRE President Howard Altman wrote in a statement<strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThe lack of disclosure has created a serious breach of trust at a critical juncture. It is also another troubling sign of a growing lack of transparency. That the information<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>about a five-day absence<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>was not released until Friday at 5 p.m. is keeping in the worst traditions of obfuscation and opacity<strong>.<\/strong>\u201c<\/p>\n<p>Austin, for his part,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/Releases\/Release\/Article\/3633506\/statement-by-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-on-medical-care\/\">issued his own statement<\/a>\u00a0on Saturday night, thanking his medical team for taking good care of him. He added that he understands \u201cthe media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He ended with a note that was both conciliatory and, to my view, defiant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure,\u201d Austin wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The Pentagon of course had backup when Austin went into hospital. There is a line of succession, and someone always has the baton. But the American people (to include our leaders) need to know when it is passed, and to whom. Handoffs are awkward. Deputy Hicks, who insiders tell me is highly qualified and a steady hand at the helm, was out of the country when Austin went MIA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe noticed when Hicks was gone,\u201d a source who works at the Pentagon told me. \u201cWith Austin, we didn\u2019t notice anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And that is the larger problem. When Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was off work and in an intensive care unit over the course of four days, no one at the Pentagon nor in Washington even knew he was gone.<\/p>\n<p><em>Susan Katz Keating is the publisher and editor in chief at Soldier of Fortune.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/sofmag.com\/lloyd-austin-was-mia-for-5-days-no-one-noticed\/\">https:\/\/sofmag.com\/lloyd-austin-was-mia-for-5-days-no-one-noticed\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-203775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=203775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203775\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=203775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=203775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=203775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}