PITTSBURGH — Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), a western Pennsylvania Democrat, retired Navy officer, and member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he is calling for Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s resignation largely over the lack of transparency and the lack of trust he has created between the public and its government.
Deluzio said in an interview with the Washington Examiner that his background in uniform led him to step up as the first lawmaker in his party to call for Austin’s resignation after failing to notify anyone in command of his health condition.
“I think the chain of command is just critical, and I think the failure at the Pentagon here to keep the White House informed is a serious one, and that’s what this is about for me,” he said of posting online asking for Austin’s resignation last night.
“No one begrudges anyone ever getting ill or sick,” he said. “My God, it could happen to all of us. But I think the failure at the department to keep that continuity of chain of command and to make sure the White House was informed, that’s the failure, and the buck has to stop with Secretary Austin.”
Deluzio said that break in the chain drove him to call for Austin’s resignation: “I take very seriously my duty on the Armed Services Committee, and that includes oversight of the Defense Department, and so, that’s what drove me to say it. I don’t think it’s about party politics. I think it’s just about our readiness and the continuity of the chain of command.”
Austin, who was nominated by then-President Barack Obama to be the 12th commander of U.S. Central Command in 2012, served 41 years in uniform and retired as a four-star general after leaving that command. Biden, who got to know Austin when he visited the Middle East as vice president, secured rapid confirmation of the general as the 28th secretary of defense.
Austin and his team have drawn sharp condemnation for not notifying both the White House and Congress of both his Dec. 22 medical procedure and his emergency hospitalization 11 days later for severe pain.
Austin also failed to notify Biden or anyone in the administration that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, White House Officials admitted earlier this week.
A defiant John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, said in a White House press conference Monday, “There is no plans for anything other than Secretary Austin to stay in the job and continuing the leadership that he’s been demonstrating.”
Deluzio said they still don’t have the full picture yet of the timeline and what the involvement of senior folks at the Pentagon looked like, “But for me, I think given the potential harm that could have come here, the gap in the chain of command, I think that kind of lapse has to rest with the secretary. He’s ultimately responsible for the department, and that’s really what drove my call today for his resignation.”
Deluzio, who lives in a suburb of Pittsburgh in a rivertown along the Allegheny River, represents the 17th Congressional District, a swing district that is made up of blue-collar and suburban neighborhoods in Allegheny County as well as all of Beaver County.
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He will face Republican state Rep. Rob Mercuri, of Allegheny County, also a veteran who served two tours in Iraq in the U.S. Army and was awarded the Bronze Star medal for his service, for that seat in November.
For him, Deluzio says it all comes down to the notification and the transparency. “I think the breakdown of making sure that, in this case, the highest levels of our chain of command, up to the commander in chief, were kept in the dark. That failure falls with the Defense Department and is one that I think we can’t stomach here.”