2024-01-15 21:08:49
Americas – US Secretary of Defense Austin was discharged from hospital on the 15th. He had previously caused controversy in the country because he had not announced the news of his hospitalization in a timely manner. “As I continue to recover and fulfill my duties at home, I look forward to a full recovery and return to the Pentagon as soon as possible,” Austin said in a statement.
Publish time: 15/01/2024 – 22:08
5 minutes
On January 9, the White House learned that Secretary of Defense Austin had been diagnosed with prostate cancer a month earlier and had undergone surgery under general anesthesia on December 22, without notifying President Biden and his staff. This once again caused confusion. The White House was caught off guard.
While the president’s aides said he would not remove Austin, they acknowledged communication problems and were taking action to impose new disciplinary measures on the administration. White House Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients ordered a review of procedures and issued instructions to Cabinet secretaries making it clear they should notify the White House when they are unable to perform their duties.
In the memo obtained by The New York Times, Zients wrote that “the Office of Cabinet Affairs and the White House chief of staff should be notified in the event of a delegation or potential delegation of authority.” “Departments should give this notification when they anticipate or prepare for a delegation of authority, and again when delegation occurs.” He also said he expected any such notification to be in writing.
White House spokesman John Kirby said Biden’s “most important concern is the health of the secretary” and that the president remains “confident” in Austin and will keep him in office until the end of his term. But Kirby acknowledged concerns about the secrecy. “This is not good,” he told reporters at a news conference. “It’s definitely not good, so we want to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said “the failure to notify Congress that he was unable to perform his duties clearly violated the law.” “It is unclear who decided to ignore federal law, but accountability must be held. An internal review ordered by the same chief of staff who played a role in this crisis is woefully inadequate.”
The White House did not learn of Austin’s prostate cancer diagnosis until the morning of January 9, when Zients notified Biden. Kirby confirmed that the White House was also unaware that the Dec. 22 surgery, which would normally result in the defense secretary handing over authority to his deputy, was performed under general anesthesia.
Late Tuesday, Austin’s doctors at Walter Reed Hospital issued a statement saying he was diagnosed in “early December,” but stopped short of describing the resulting surgery as “elective.” On January 1, Austin was returned to the hospital after experiencing nausea and “severe pain in his abdomen, buttocks and legs,” and doctors determined he had a urinary tract infection, according to doctors. He remains hospitalized and doctors said they “anticipate he will make a full recovery, although this may be a slow process.”
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