Where’s Lloyd? Defense Secretary Austin and Accountability - Dr. Owens

Where’s Lloyd? Defense Secretary Austin and Accountability - Dr. Owens

What should American citizens make of the recent disappearance of Secretary of Defense (SecDef) Lloyd Austin for three days earlier this month?  Austin was admitted to intensive care at Walter Reed on January 1, suffering complications from a surgical procedure apparently associated with prostate cancer. We should all wish the secretary a swift and complete recovery but this event reveals a serious lapse in his judgment. The defense secretary is “the principal assistant to the president in all matters relating to the Department of Defense and serves on the National Security Council” and the fact is that for at least three days, neither President Biden nor his National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, were aware of Austin’s status or whereabouts.

 

Here’s the problem. The military chain of command runs directly from the president to SecDef and then to the uniformed operational commanders (Although the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the senior uniformed military officer, he is only an adviser to the president and is not in the operational chain of command). Austin allegedly transferred responsibility to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks on Tuesday afternoon. However, according to NBC News, Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time, was unaware of Austin’s hospitalization. And I am unaware of any provisions that permit the Deputy SecDef to act in the SecDef’s stead, absent specific delegation. 

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Perhaps Austin did not think we were facing any serious national security issues requiring a clear chain of command. If so, we should question his judgment. Recent events such as the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Iranian-sponsored Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, the Russo-Ukrainian War, and continuing tensions with China in the Pacific require that the US military be ready on very short notice to meet a crisis. What if such a crisis arose while the president was incapacitated? The result could be a disaster.

 

The Department of Defense (DoD) is arguably the most important agency of the executive branch. If Marcia Fudge, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, is out of touch for a few days, the consequences are limited. Not so with Secretary of Defense Austin.

 

In retrospect, Austin seems to have recognized how this whole affair affects his credibility. On Saturday, he said that he understood "the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better. But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”

 

At the very least, this episode is only the most recent example of poor judgment on Austin’s part. He was SecDef during the disgraceful US exit from Afghanistan in August of 2021. He was also SecDef last January during the Chinese surveillance balloon debacle. And perhaps most unfortunately for US national security, Austin’s Department of Defense (DoD) seems far more interested in such issues as “climate change” and identity politics in the guise of “diversity, equality, and inclusion” (DEI) than in assuring that the US military can conduct successful military operations. Meeting racial, gender, and other identity politics quotas has now become the foremost task of senior leadership. During his time as secretary, senior military officers have increasingly come to resemble the old-fashion “political officers” in the Soviet Union who were responsible for ensuring that the military adhered to communist ideology.

 

The White House has assured us that the president has “full confidence” in Secretary Austin. But members of Congress have raised concerns. Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Roger Wicker (R-MS), both issued statements criticizing the Defense Department for failing to disclose Austin's condition. "We are learning more every hour about the Department’s shocking defiance of the law," said Wicker. "Members must be briefed on a full accounting of the facts immediately." Cotton added that Austin must promptly provide Congress with answers.  "If this report is true, there must be consequences for this shocking breakdown," he said. Some Republicans have threatened to impeach Austin.

 

In any event, there should be consequences for Austin’s actions. But that’s not likely. Writing in 2007, an Army lieutenant colonel lamented that “as matters stand now, a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses a war.” that’s true not only of the uniformed military but also of the military’s civilian leadership.