President Biden said Friday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s failure to disclose his lengthy hospitalization following a recent prostate operation was a lapse in judgment, but the president insisted he still has confidence in the 70-year-old former general.
Speaking with reporters while touring small businesses in and around Allentown, Pennsylvania, Mr. Biden was peppered with questions about the Pentagon chief, whose lengthy absence — which was only tardily revealed to the White House, Capitol Hill and the Pentagon press corps — sparked a major headache for the administration.
When asked if he still had confidence in Mr. Austin, the president responded, “I do.” Mr. Biden also said yes when asked if it was a lapse in judgment for Mr. Austin not to tell him immediately about his hospitalization.
On Jan. 1, Mr. Austin was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He was in intensive care after complications from a surgery he underwent on Dec. 22 to remove his prostate.
But several senior Defense Department officials did not learn of the secretary’s hospitalization until the next day, Jan. 2. The White House was not notified until Jan. 4, a major breach in the protocol for one of the nation’s most powerful and sensitive positions.
The situation became more embarrassing for the White House when it disclosed that Mr. Austin waited until this week to tell officials he had been diagnosed with cancer last month.
“It’s not good,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters earlier this week. “It’s certainly not good, which is why we want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
While the White House has repeatedly said it would not fire Mr. Austin, it ordered a review of procedures and sent new directives to Cabinet members making it clear that they must inform the White House if they are unable to perform their duties.
Mr. Austin, who is notoriously private and press-shy, has acknowledged he handled the episode poorly, but that has not stopped the Defense Department’s own inspector general’s office from announcing this week it will conduct its own investigation of the Pentagon chief and his senior aides.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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