A White House Briefing on Austin’s Hospitalization in the Light of Zients’ Order on Decrement and the White House’s Responsibility to Communicate with the Pentagon
Zients ordered Cabinet members to submit their current protocols in writing for his review by Friday — and also emphasized that they need to keep the White House informed about potential cases where they need to delegate authority.
While the review is happening, Ms. Magsamen instructed the secretary to ensure that his power is communicated to the chiefs of staff, combatant commanders, and the Pentagon general counsel.
Kathleen Hicks, the deputy secretary of defense, assumed the top role on Tuesday, Jan. 2, a not-unusual transfer of power that sometimes occurs purely for operational reasons. She did not learn of Austin’s hospitalization until that Thursday. Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time.
When she learned of Austin’s hospitalization, she immediately engaged staff on drafting a public statement and congressional outreach. She planned to return to Washington, D.C. on Friday. However, she was informed that afternoon that the secretary was preparing to resume full communications capability and the associated operational responsibilities on Friday,” the official said.
The White House spokesman stated that Biden was informed earlier this morning that Austin had cancer. No one at the White House knew that Austin had prostate cancer until this morning, Kirby said.
There is a statement from the Center for Prostate Disease Research of the Murtha Cancer Center at Walter Reed that indicates why Austin was hospitalized on New Years’ Day. It does not answer the questions about why the news media was kept in the dark about where he was or his condition.
The White House may have taken a hard look at the rules for Cabinet members in light of Austin’s hospitalization.
At the White House briefing, Kirby said Biden retains confidence in Austin, but acknowledged: “It is not optimal for a situation like this to go as long as it did without the commander in chief knowing about it, or the national security adviser knowing about it, or frankly other leaders at the department of defense. That’s not the way this is supposed to happen.”
Prostate Cancer: The Case for the Fading Out of Pax Americana, a Post-Newtonian Policy of the United States
“Changes in his laboratory evaluation in early December 2023 identified prostate cancer which required treatment,” the statement said. He underwent a minimally-invasive surgical procedure to treat and cure Prostate Cancer after being admitted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
A prostatectomy is the surgical removal of the prostate gland. Sometimes it is done in a way that is minimally-invasive, using a robot to help with the operation. Despite Walter Reed saying that Austin had to be treated, the Pentagon still called his procedure “elective”.
The following day, Austin was transferred to the intensive care unit, where he was found to have abdominal fluid collections that impaired the function of his small intestines, according to the statement.
He’s getting it addressed and I’m happy about it. I think he should have been more forthcoming with me about it. “I think in a position like his transparency is essential. And … we didn’t see that. The national security interests of the nation are at risk, and that raises a lot of questions in his position.
But there’s a deeper cause: the fading away of Pax Americana — the idea that the United States has a duty, rooted in values and interests, to police the global commons, defend embattled allies, deter anti-American dictatorships and punish major violations of international order, like Iraq’s seizure of Kuwait or Russia’s invasions of Ukraine. The thought that Washington should be the world’s cop is now considered, on a bipartisan basis, to be an idea whose time has passed. The progressive left wants the job to be given to the United Nations and the Trumpian right wants it to be for itself.
In reality, the world doesn’t police itself and an un policed world is pandemonium. I believe we are much closer to that world than most Americans are aware of. What happens when Ukraine runs out of shells or when a Hezbollah rocket hits an Israeli school?
The Houthis did not kill an American ship, and we should preserve a global order. What has the world learned from the houthis?
The job of secretary of defense is to be on the job. Imagine if the Houthis had put a hole in an American ship, requiring an immediate response. Hours could have been lost while combatant commanders tried to get direction from the Pentagon.
What’s astonishing here isn’t that Austin neglected to inform his staff or the White House. The administration is dealing with the incident on the basis of nonchalance. Austin has described it as a matter of poor communication and promised to do better. The president says he has no plans to let go of his secretary. The defense minister of New Zealand would not care about this. Sorry, New Zealand. But the fallacy of abandoning Pax Americana is that we don’t have the option of transforming ourselves into a larger version of New Zealand: faraway and inoffensive. A world that we turn our backs on is more likely to stab ourselves in the back than it is to turn its back on us. That’s why we have to preserve, and police, a global order.