What’s the truth about the US defence secretary’s mystery illness?

Questions are growing over who knew what, and when, about the hospitalisation of the American Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, the most senior official in the chain of command between the president and the military. Austin was taken to hospital on New Year’s Day but the news was kept secret. Astonishingly, even president Joe Biden does not appear to have been told that Austin was unwell until last Thursday, four days after his admission to the Walter Reed National Medical Center in Maryland. Key figures in the Pentagon and members of Congress were also kept in the dark, and only informed on Friday. There have even been claims that senior members of his staff were under the impression that he was on vacation.

Even now, no details of Austin’s medical problem have been made public, nor has anything been said about whether he was incapacitated at any point during his hospital stay. The Pentagon press secretary, Major General Pat Ryder, confirmed that Austin suffered ‘complications following a recent directive medical procedure’ but did not elaborate. It has also emerged that his deputy, Kathleen Hicks, was on holiday in Puerto Rico at the time but officials stressed that she was able to cover for him as and when required. It is unclear how much was disclosed to her about the overall situation.

This is not exactly reassuring. Austin is second only to Biden at the top of the chain of military command, and his duties and responsibilities require him to be on hand at all times. The timing of his medical problems could not be worse, with tensions running high in the Middle East and growing fears that Israel’s war with Hamas could escalate into a wider regional conflagration.

Austin is said to be recovering well in hospital and has now apparently resumed work. In a statement, he attempted to play down the growing furore. ‘I recognise I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better,’ said Austin, acknowledging the concerns about a lack of transparency. ‘But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.’

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Is he really attempting to suggest that his medical treatment is entirely his own business? If so, he is wide of the mark. The decision about what to disclose is not solely his to make, nor should it be. There is a much wider public interest in knowing whether the man in charge of America’s military forces is lying in a hospital bed, and to what extent he is able to discharge his daily responsibilities.

The affair raises several pressing issues. What exactly is going on with Austin’s health, and why go to such lengths to conceal it? What procedures were put in place to cover for his prolonged absence at such a critical time, and on whose authority? Most critical of all, who decided that the hospital stay should be concealed from the president himself, who after all is the commander-in-chief? The White House should have been informed immediately of Austin’s illness, an obvious duty that appears to have eluded Austin’s inner circle. Such a grave error cannot go unpunished. Keeping it secret from the public is an equally culpable act that goes against accepted practice in dealing with disclosure of health issues involving senior government figures. When the Attorney General Merrick Garland had a routine medical procedure in 2022, for example, his office informed people a week in advance, outlined how long it would take and when he would be back at work.

This saga amounts to a public relations disaster for the Biden administration, which has always made great play of its determination to restore professionalism and transparency to government in the chaotic aftermath of the Trump presidency. The Pentagon Press Association, which represents journalists who cover the Defence department, has condemned the attempts at secrecy involved as an ‘outrage’. Doubts among media organisations about the transparency of the administration will hardly help in what is an election year.

There are questions too about Austin’s political judgment and that of his most senior advisers. Their efforts to keep his health condition under wraps have backfired spectacularly, with speculation rampant about what he is seeking to hide.

It is understood that Austin is safe in his job – for now – partly because of his long and close relationship with Biden. Congressional members may not feel so charitably disposed. Voters too are unlikely to be impressed by the secretive instincts on display: the public has a right to know about  the health and decision-making capacities of the nation’s senior defence official. Most especially in times of international conflict and instability.