United States – On Thursday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is forced to appear before Congress to answer charges about how he concealed his diagnosis of prostate cancer and subsequent surgery from President Joe Biden and even his Under Secretary of Defense.
Congressional Scrutiny Looms
Austin has probably offered regret for how he handled the issue, even to President Biden himself, but at 10 AM (1500 GMT), when he will first appear before a Republican-led office at the Armed Services Committee, he will be quizzed directly by the Congressmen, as reported by Reuters.
Accordingly, this might be the most difficult and personal hearing that Austin, the former 4-star general, has ever experienced in his career.
Unacceptable Delay in Informing President
“It’s totally unacceptable that it took over three days to inform the President that the Secretary of Defense was in the hospital and not in control of the Pentagon,” Representative Mike Rogers, the committee’s chairman, will say at the hearing, according to prepared remarks.
“Wars were raging in Ukraine and Israel, our ships were under fire in the Red Sea, and our bases were bracing for attack in Iraq and Syria. But the Commander in Chief did not know that his Secretary of Defense was out of action.”
Instead of sharing his health issues with the media or the public in general, Austin preferred keeping his first prostate cancer surgery in December and a January hospital stay due to some post-surgical complications that led him to the intensive care unit secret from the media and the general public alike.
Pentagon’s Internal Review
On the other hand, the Pentagon announced its internal review that lasted a month, which turned out to be free from mistakes in this regard. This report came to the conclusion that “nothing examined during this review demonstrated any indication of ill intent or an attempt to obfuscate.”
Rogers will be quoted as saying that the report does not come up with real answers to questions of knowing when and by whom the actions and inactions occurred.
“We were led to believe your 30-day internal review would shed light on the matter,” Rogers will say, according to the prepared remarks.
“But it includes no explanation of why the President and his staff were left in the dark. It makes no recommendations to improve communication with the White House. And unsurprisingly, it holds no one accountable.”
Austin’s Admission and Bipartisan Criticism
In a recent rare press briefing, which he himself had conducted in early February, Austin admitted that he had not informed President Biden or top staffers about his diagnosis of prostate cancer beforehand and that this had been a real ‘gut punch’ that had made him weak at the knees, as reported by Reuters.
Bipartisan Condemnation
However, both Republicans and Democrats condemned Austin for his lack of disclosure of his cancer diagnosis and subsequent hospitalizations. Some famous Republicans, such as former President Donald Trump, demanded that Austin be dismissed as a result of this statement.