It is inexcusable that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin concealed his multiday medical incapacity from President Joe Biden and top Pentagon officials, including his own Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks. By his actions, Austin has shown a catastrophic inability to recognize the responsibilities of his office or the basic principles of strategic leadership.
It would be bad enough if the transportation secretary did what Austin did. But when a defense secretary acts in such a manner, the stakes are much higher. And he chose to have elective surgery when hot spots in different parts of the world are in flames. Austin endangered national security out of a vain and misguided sense of personal privacy. This sends a message to U.S. adversaries that Washington is dysfunctional at the highest levels. Austin should be relieved of his position.
The incident underlines the broader chaos within the Biden administration and the wholly earned lack of respect in which subordinates hold their commander in chief. Obsessed with the 2024 election, the White House appears to believe its top priority is to press the media into more positive coverage of the president and more negative coverage of his challengers in the GOP. But as the president and his team focus narrowly on domestic partisan politics, the world grows more insecure.
Team Biden’s chaotic priorities are further underlined by the fact that Hicks was vacationing in Puerto Rico during her boss’s incapacity. In essence, the acting U.S. defense secretary was living the beach life unaware that she was actually in charge of the U.S. military. It’s unclear whether Austin transferred all his authorities to Hicks or just some of them.
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The timing was awful. Chaos at the Pentagon reached this nadir while Houthis attacked international shipping, conflict is on the brink of escalating between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah, China is engaged in reckless brinkmanship against the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, North Korea is rattling its saber, and Russia continues its aggression in Eastern Europe.
It says much about the administration that Biden wasn’t even aware that his top defense executive was unavailable. It shows either that Biden doesn’t discuss the military challenges facing our nation or that the president and his staff don’t notice when Austin goes AWOL. Either way, this saga is a testament to an administration in chaos.