I think that hospital is used to treating high-level patients including the president, so there may be secure communications facilities even in the ICU?
Pretty sure they knock you out to remove your prostate. That’s not an out-patient procedure.
He’s not some back office drone getting out the monthly TPS reports. He’s the fucking secretary of defense.
When POTUS goes under the knife, the VP is notified and assumes the responsibilities of commander in chief while the POTUS is incapacitated. It’s not like they’ve invented a brain tap so an unconcious person can be communicated with.
Was the secretary of defense incapacitated though?
He had his prostate removed. They aren’t doing that while he was concious. Procedure can take up to 4 hours, not including post-op recovery time.
Besides, it’s not his call to make whether or not he hands off his responsibilities. He should have notified the White House (POTUS) his boss, and they make the call.
Yes, and for that part of the process, Austin had transferred his duties to his deputy. This was on December 23rd.
Things didn’t go south until Austin was returned to care in the ICU on January 1st. It was at that point he failed to notify President Biden of further medical intervention. But so far as I understand, Austin has been handling his duties throughout his stay in the hospital and was not again subject to general anesthesia.
There are legitimate concerns here, and it’s good President Biden has ordered a review. But let’s stick with the facts of the matter.
Who never knew that she had the responsibility…she never was told. Complete cluster and the SecDef failed in his leadership.
She was out sick. There are lots of moving parts to this.
Good leaders make good decisions…not like this. Good leaders also take responsibility for their failures, don’t pass the blame onto others. And more than a promise to do better.
The prostate procedure was done on Dec 22nd - he went in to the hospital on the 1st due to pain and they kept him there for monitoring/whatever. On the 4th is when others were more properly notified. Based on the article above - Austin told his chief of staff, who was unable to tell the deputy due to her being ill.
Ryder said the National Security Council and Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks were not notified until Thursday, Jan. 4, that Austin had been hospitalized since Jan. 1. Ryder said Austin’s chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, was ill and “unable to make notifications before then.” He said she informed Hicks and the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, on Thursday.
Try again -
Secretary Austin already took full responsibility for this. He made an unambiguous statement that the entire incident was his fault and his fault alone.
The deputy secretary was on vacation in Puerto Rico; it was the chief of staff who was ill.
If someone on my staff didn’t inform me that they were going to be out for surgery and then out recovering for extended days and then ended up back in the hospital and didn’t inform me. They would be fired. I expect more from the leaders in my organization. You don’t leave the ball hanging. And I’m not even talking about national security issues…this is just basic expectations of leaders in an organization.
Thank you for the correction.
Yup. And in the current political climate, firing a Defense Secretary who may not be able to be replaced due to political circumstances could have far-reaching consequences that I’m quite certain you would never face within your organization.
I agree it is good this situation is being formally reviewed. I don’t agree that firing Secretary Austin is the best solution to the problem. Obviously YMMV.
My comments are partisan agnostic and are focused purely on leadership expectations. I have high standards for people that hold power regardless of political affiliation.
In a world where Joe Biden could nominate and have confirmed a new SecDef promptly I would agree completely that Austin should resign or be fired.
Unfortunately, the Senate won’t confirm anybody right now, and rolling with an interim SecDef for a year seems like a bad idea. I assume that is what @Aspenglow was referring to.
It is, and I appreciate your clarifying what I so poorly stated.
Apparently it came out today that the WH didn’t even know about the surgery on Dec. 22. They apparently had no idea he was going under general anesthesia.
That, to me, changes it to a “he must resign”. This was a scheduled surgery and there is NO excuse for not informing his boss.
The Senate can and would confirm a new Sec Def. As I said above, Republicans would try to make it a circus but Democrats control the Senate and the nomination can’t be filibustered.