Lloyd Austin only just got out of intensive care yesterday.

I'm surprised to read (in The Washington Post).

Austin, 70, remains under doctors’ supervision at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. He was taken there by ambulance Jan. 1, while in “severe pain” with undisclosed complications from a Dec. 22 medical procedure that included an overnight stay, administration officials said.

He's still in the hospital, and we still don't know what the original procedure was. Something that includes an overnight stay, so, I'm thinking... not a colonoscopy. Why would they withhold this information, with so much attention aimed at this case? Perhaps they are bolstering the argument that it's something so private that it justified the initial failure to disclose? I can think of some things like that, but I won't put them in writing. Too private!

But their halting explanation of the situation, and Austin’s lack of transparency about what led to his health crisis, have only amplified the scrutiny following revelations that Austin’s senior staff declined to disclose the issue to the White House for days. The Pentagon said Monday night that it remains unclear when he may be released but that officials intend to provide daily updates so long as he remains at Walter Reed.... 

It was unclear, though, whether even Biden, who spoke with Austin on Saturday evening, now knows specifics about his condition, or how enduring it could be. 

“That would really be between the two men,” [said John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council].

Imagine saying that, when you know there is criticism for lack of transparency.

[A spokesman, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder] acknowledged during an hour-long back-and-forth with reporters that he first learned of Austin’s hospitalization Jan. 2, two days before that information was transmitted to the National Security Council and three days before it was disclosed to Congress and the public. A handful of other Defense Department officials, including Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Kelly Magsamen, Austin’s chief of staff; and Lt. Gen. Ronald Clark, Austin’s senior military assistant; also were apprised of the secretary’s medical situation before the White House was made aware.

Still, no one at the Pentagon notified Congress or Austin’s No. 2, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, even after Hicks assumed some of Austin’s duties during a previously planned vacation to Puerto Rico, Pentagon officials said. Ryder blamed the breakdown on Magsamen having contracted the flu, requiring her to miss work. It remains unclear whether Magsamen delegated any responsibilities to subordinates while she was ill. Ryder said it was the chief of staff who ultimately notified Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, at the White House on Jan. 4.

Who's in control there? Who should be in control? We, the people, rely on the Defense Department. These are people who've been avoiding transparency, and what they are letting us see looks bad.

Ryder offered no explanation for why another Pentagon official did not notify the White House sooner.... 

Republicans have seized on the issue....

Seized? The issue was foisted on them... and all of us.