Restore Factory Settings at The Pentagon

truth is stranger than fiction

Now and then, my closeted optimism can get in the way of me seeing what is exactly in front of me.

For much of the second half of the weekend, I kept thinking this was just bad reporting … but no - it only got worse.

Most of my readers, I think, have some kind of military background. As such, I hope you are as gobsmacked as I am about this news.

As of late Sunday, here’s what we know via Politico:

Austin’s failure to inform his most senior advisers, congressional leaders and even President Joe Biden of his hospitalization last week due to complications from a medical procedure has erupted into a controversy that’s left senior White House and Pentagon officials infuriated and befuddled. Some Republicans quickly called for investigations or even for Austin to be disciplined or fired.

Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown was not informed of Austin’s situation until Tuesday, the day after his hospitalization, a senior Defense Department official told POLITICO on Sunday. Even Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who assumed some of his duties while he was in the hospital, did not know his whereabouts until Thursday, a second senior DOD official said after CNN first reported the news.

“My sense is his desire to be private about a routine medical procedure kind of backfired when it didn’t go as planned,” said one senior U.S. official. “He’s so loyal and duty-bound. It’s all just very odd.”

Former and current U.S. officials who have worked with Austin say he is well-known as an introvert, shunning the cameras and keeping only a few close confidantes during his decades-long military career. As the four-star general overseeing U.S. Central Command during the Iraq drawdown, he rarely held press conferences. As defense secretary, in contrast to his predecessors, he takes only a handful of media on official travel. He has not done a press conference in the Pentagon since last July, although he regularly briefs the press during his travels.

…

For three days, not even the White House knew of Austin’s hospitalization. DOD officials notified top Pentagon civilians and military leaders only two hours before the public reveal on Friday evening. Congress was only informed 15 minutes before the announcement went out.

The first time Austin and Biden spoke since the secretary’s Monday hospitalization was Saturday evening, a senior administration official said, even as tensions in the Middle East have spiked and the war in Ukraine has intensified. The conversation followed reports, first from POLITICO, that the Pentagon boss waited three days to inform the White House that he was out of commission.

The Pentagon says the delay in notifying senior administration officials about Austin’s hospitalization was partly due to the fact that his chief of staff was also out with her own illness at the same time.

OK, that’s sufficient. Let’s review.

The world is on fire (as it usually is) and the SECDEF - a cabinet-level position and in the chain of command for any significant military action - is out of action due to serious ICU-level medical complications from an elective surgery a few weeks before. His #2, unaware, is on vacation in the Caribbean. His Chief-of-Staff is out due to her own medical issues.

IS1 was nice enough to put together a nice timeline as we know it that I’ll just go ahead and steal. Remember, SECDEF Austin was hospitalized on New Year’s Day;

Chairman of JCS was notified on 02JAN2024 doesn't notify anybody else.

POTUS not notified till 04JAN2024

National Security Advisor not notified till 04JAN2024

NSC not notified till 04JAN2024

Deputy SECDEF while on vacation in Puerto Rico was handed "some responsibilities" of SECDEF on 02JAN2024 not notified till 04JAN2024.

Congress and Senate to include Gang of 8 along with most of Pentagon not notified till 05JAN2024

Deputy under SECDEF for Policy Baker, currently the Acting Under Secretary (#3 job in Pentagon) was filling in for SECDEF at the office not knowing that he was in the hospital and was told he was working from home.

Secretary of the Navy not notified till 05JAN2024

Secretary of the Army not notified till 05JAN2024

Secretary of the Air Force not notified till 05JAN2024

SECDEF Chief of Staff, Kelly Magsamen, was “unable to make notifications before then” due to illness.

Pentagon spokesman declined to answer follow-up questions about why none of SECDEF Austin’s other aides could notify the White House or his deputy of his hospitalization sooner.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had not been aware that Austin had been hospitalized.

How can I put this in naval terms? Hmmm … OK, I’ll give this a shot.

Let’s pick any one of our Arleigh Burke DDGs in Rota, Spain. The Commanding Officer gets sick - real sick - on New Year’s Day and has to be put in an ICU. Before that, the Executive Officer decided to go take some well-deserved time off to … let’s say go skiing in La Plagne in the French Alps. The senior Department Head, the Operations Officer, comes down with COVID at about the same time and is holed up at home, “covering for the Skipper and making sure the XO is in the loop if needed” via email.

No one tells the Commodore of Destroyer Squadron SIXTY, Captain Sudberg, USN of ANY OF THIS.

Somehow, in the middle of the week the DDG in question got underway and did a, oh I don’t know, a couple of days on the range doing rangey things, then returned to port - no big deal.

Then this weekend, someone from the Chief’s mess bumps into the DESRON 60’s Command Master Chief Marcus, USN at Boars Breath, and mentions how proud he was of his ship this week, getting underway like that without a CO, XO, or OPS O.

CMDCM, after a vigorous, “WTF!” grabs his phone out of his pocket and calls the Commodore … hilarity ensues.

That’s all I got. I’m hoping the reporting is off … but this is … something.

Adults back in charge? I don’t know about that. Sounds like a bad episode of McHale’s Navy.

Lolita Baldor’s article at AP has some spot-on quotes from a few Senators that are worth your time to read. I don’t think SECDEF’s response below is quite good enough;

“I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better,” said Austin, acknowledging the concerns about transparency. “But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”

Austin, 70, remained hospitalized due to complications following a minor elective medical procedure, his press secretary said, as it became increasingly clear how closely the Pentagon held information about his stay at Walter Reed. In his statement, Austin said he is on the mend and is looking forward to returning to the Pentagon soon, but he provided no other details about his ailment.

It is even more amazing that the Pentagon Press Corp had no idea. I’m old enough when “…the Secretary’s schedule…” was an actual … thing. When did that stop?

We can just add this to the list.

As per CNN as reported by our friend Kristina Wong,

Staff were under “strict orders to not contact him.” Expected to be out all week.

Normal calls with the Israeli defense minister did not happen last week.

Not clear whether he was ever unconscious or incapacitated.

A strike against pro-Iran militia while he was in the hospital was “preauthorized.”

Hey, he doesn’t work for me - but I’m sorry, you cannot run an organization like that. Not even in my small, inconsequential company. You just can’t operate like that.

Former Army Public Affairs Colonel Joe Buccino fairly lays it out;

Many questions now must be answered: Who was adjudicating the Pentagon’s support for the war in Gaza? Who was coordinating with Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant on behalf of the U.S. military? Who approved the Jan. 4 strike into Baghdad that killed a militia leader believed responsible for attacks on American troops? Who coordinated that strike and its aftermath with defense officials in the Middle East? These are the kinds of actions that require leadership from inside the Pentagon. Why did the Deputy Secretary of Defense remain on vacation with the Secretary incapacitated?

…What did the Pentagon press officers know, and when did they know it? Surely, they are aware of the protocol for publicly announcing medical procedures for cabinet officials. Who was in on the deception? The Secretary of Defense travels with an entire operations center around him at all times: note-takers, communications experts, and intelligence analysts. These people all report to defense officials, who report to other defense officials. It’s hard to believe the Pentagon’s press office was unaware that the Big Boss was in the hospital. In fact, hiding the Secretary of Defense during a tumultuous work week for the American military surely involved the collusion of multiple senior officials.

…

The American Secretary of Defense walks the earth with the most essential information any of us can have. He renders decisions on behalf of this country that kill many people in other countries. Lloyd Austin represents American power to much of the world. He runs an enterprise that costs American taxpayers north of $840 billion and employs more than three million workers. We get to know where our Secretary of Defense is at all times. We get to know when he’s on vacation. We get to know when he’s in the hospital.

Lloyd Austin cannot recover from this breach of trust. In fact, he cannot be trusted any longer. If he wants to keep his hospital visits private, he should be allowed to do so – as a private citizen.

I was just your standard issue middling O5 who punched out after 21 years, but for a bit over nine of those 21 years I worked directly for over half a dozen General and Flag Officers from as many services and nations. Not a single one of them would have tolerated such behavior from one of their subordinates not so much because of the dangerous malpractice of it all, but because they would have rightfully taken it as a manifestation of a deeper personal or institutional dysfunction that needed to be halted before it became something much worse.

I wish SECDEF Austin a healthy and successful recovery, but I don’t see how he can continue in his present position.