Inspector General will investigate the handling of Austin’s hospitalization

The Pentagon’s inspector general said Thursday he would investigate the handling of Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III’s ongoing hospitalization, which Mr. Austin and his top aides failed to disclose to President Biden and Congress for days after he developed serious complications had developed prostate cancer. surgery.

The inspector general, Robert P. Storch, wrote in a memo to Mr. Austin and the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen H. Hicks, that his office would begin this month examining “the roles, processes, procedures, responsibilities and actions” related thereto. to hospital admission.

The agency would also examine whether the Department of Defense’s “policies and procedures are sufficient to ensure timely and appropriate notifications and the effective transfer of authorities as may be warranted due to health-related or other unavailability of senior leadership,” it said Mr Storch.

The independent review will be conducted in addition to a 30-day review by Mr. Austin’s office. The White House also ordered a review after top officials were not informed of the complications until three days after the defense secretary admitted. Lawmakers have also said they will investigate the matter.

Mr. Austin, 70, was in severe pain and was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on Jan. 1. He was placed in intensive care after complications from an operation he underwent on December 22 to remove his leg. prostate, the hospital announced this week.

But several senior aides at the Defense Department did not learn of the secretary’s hospitalization until the next day, January 2. The White House was not notified until January 4, a major breach of protocol at the highest national security level. Complicating matters further, neither Pentagon nor White House officials learned until Tuesday that Austin had been diagnosed with cancer last month.

“It’s not good,” John F. Kirby, White House spokesman and former Pentagon spokesman, told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. “It’s certainly not good, that’s why we want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

While Mr. Biden’s aides said this week that he would not fire Mr. Austin, they acknowledged the breakdown in communications and moved to impose new discipline over the government. Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House chief of staff, ordered a review of procedures and sent a directive to Cabinet secretaries making it clear that they must inform the White House if they are unable to perform their duties.

The episode has raised questions about Mr. Austin’s credibility and the overall competency of his department. The Pentagon’s shifting narratives, put forward by lower-level officials trying to protect their boss, have not helped matters. The gross violation of protocol has also diminished the Defense Department’s overall credibility, said lawmakers and current and former U.S. officials in both the White House and Congress.

“Our Secretary of Defense did not notify the President, he did not notify Congress, he did not notify his subordinates or the National Security Council when he was absent for days,” said Senator Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican on the Armed Services Committee. “I am grateful that he is recovering well. But the problem here is his judgment.”

Mr. Austin continues to work from the hospital as he recovers, Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, told reporters on Thursday. And while doctors say they expect Mr. Austin to make a full recovery, there is no indication yet when he will leave Walter Reed.

Karoun Demirjian reporting contributed.