Pentagon gives clean chit to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on secret hospitalisations
Lloyd Austin
Pentagon has given a clean chit to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin over his secret hospitalisations related to his cancer diagnosis. In a three-page concluding report released on Monday (Feb 26), the Pentagon said it found no"indication of ill intent or an attempt to obfuscate" by Austin or his staff.
The Pentagon chief had not informed the top government leaders during two separate secret hospitalisation incidents which led to a boiling controversy with opposition leaders demanding his resignation for negligence.
Pentagon in its report accepted that the process followed under which Austin transferred his powers to his deputy could have been improved.
“Although, as hindsight has shown, the process for making decisions to transfer the Secretary’s authority could and should be improved. Nothing examined during this review demonstrated any indication of ill intent or an attempt to obfuscate,” the report added.
The assessment by the Pentagon comes a couple of weeks after Austin was once again hospitalised at theWalter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Unlikethe previous hospitalisations that were kept secret, deputy defense secretary Kathleen Hicks, Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House and Congress were notified about Austin's health crisis.
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Watch |US defense secretary Lloyd Austin's secret hospitalization: All you need to know
What happened to Austin?
Austin had vanished from the public eye in Decemberand early January this year after suffering complications from treatment for prostate cancer.
Austin kept the hospitalisations secret, with the White House, Pentagon and other important departments and people remaining oblivious that President Joe Biden's top military adviser was missing from action for an extended period.
Austin, 70, had undergone minor surgery on December 22 after early detection of prostate cancer in routine screening.
After the procedure, Austin recovered without event and returned home the next morning. However, complications soon emerged and evaluation revealed that abdominal fluid collection was impairing the function of his small intestines.
The defense secretary was hospitalised on New Year's Day (Jan 1) in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) due to complications from an elective medical procedure.
Surprisingly, the Pentagon did not make any official announcement until four days later while waiting to notify other top government officers about Austin's absence.
The US defense secretary is only below the president in the chain of command for the US military and is regarded as one of the most important cabinet members. Hence, Austin'sprolonged absence from the office with multiple wars happening simultaneously, raised a lot of eyebrows.
(With inputs from agencies)