January 11, 2024

"The Defense Department inspector general said Thursday it will investigate the mishandling of Lloyd Austin’s recent hospitalization..."

"... which the Pentagon chief and others close to him kept secret for days in an apparent breach of protocol after he developed serious complications from prostate cancer surgery.... The independent review will be conducted in addition to a 30-day assessment directed by Austin’s office and a parallel review ordered by the White House...."

WaPo reports.

AND: Why isn't Austin already gone? Is the White House afraid of criticism for letting him go or is it the problem of who will replace him? Here's a Politico discussion of who could be the next Secretary of Defense.

67 comments:

Enigma said...

Department of Defense inspector general? Ha ha. Expect a long delay followed by a white wash released on a Friday before a holiday when there's other big news. Anything else would shock me.

They might be renamed the Department of Defense Persian Rug Sweeper-Under Division.

Iman said...

No show jobs just like This Thing of Their’s…

Humperdink said...

Why isn't Austin already gone? It's as clear as the nose on his face. And the rest of his facial features as well.

Static Ping said...

When you did not hire the man for cause, it is difficult to fire the man for cause.

He was selected specifically because he was a manufactured DEI "first." As best I can tell, he is still successful in that role. The fact that he cannot do his job to even minimum requirements is not relevant to the decision making process. He may not even be the real Secretary of Defense.

n.n said...

That's not funny, and they're not serious. Besides, it's not as if Americans [citizens] have standing to inquire of rights affirmed under the Constitution.

Aggie said...

"That disclosure led to the realization that Austin had not informed Biden of his cancer diagnosis or surgery to treat it, either...."

So finally, we get to the bottom of it. And yes, he should be replaced with someone that is surrounded by people that know the procedures and will abide by them. That a serious candidate would be better than one selected from the Ranks of Woke is an obvious part of a sensible recovery plan, but who ever called this Administration sensible? They lost me on Inauguration Day, and they've been embarrassing themselves ever since.

Jim Gust said...

Why isn't Austin gone? You can't be serious, he can't be fired. He has the privilege.

rehajm said...

Why isn't Austin already gone?

Competence has been abandoned in favor of optics and propaganda. It looks bad to fire anyone. National security's got nothing to do with it...

ga6 said...

Whitewash....racist description?

gspencer said...

"Why isn't Austin already gone?"

AA.

Hey, hey, ho, ho
AA's the way to go

Hey, hey, ho, ho
AA's the way to go

From the moment this bro entered West Point, AA has paved the way for this guy's incompetence.

Dave Begley said...

I already called my shot for Kathleen Hicks. If Austin gets fired, she steps in right away and without Senate confirmation.

Note well that Politico keyed in on "the historic first woman SecDef." Just as I predicted.

But Politico left out that Hicks NEVER served in the armed forces and is a Phi Beta Kappa from Mt. Holyoke. Can't we even get a woman Ivy in that slot? I hear Claudine Gay is available.

Sebastian said...

"Why isn't Austin already gone? Is the White House afraid of criticism"

LOL.

What difference, at this point, does it make?

MayBee said...

How can you let the Secretary of Defense go for hiding health information when it is obvious our president has some level of cognitive impairment and everyone around him thinks they are hiding it?

If your boss were Joe Biden, would you think you have to explain *anything* to him?

Lucien said...

A black trans-woman to be named later will be Sec Def.

Goldenpause said...

Don’t hold your breath waiting for the Inspector General to conduct a real investigation or to issue a truthful report.

Kevin said...

Stalling. The Administration is stalling.

They'll say they can't comment anymore with the ongoing investigation.

Then the primary results will start dominating the news and focus will never return.

Steve Austin Showed Up For Work. said...

What is there to investigate???

Austin said he did it! End of investigation.

Christopher B said...

My working theory is that Austin, and maybe even the JCS, have no working role in operational command of the military other than conveying messages and sustaining the troops. Operations are being run out of the NSC by Sullivan and Blinken directly to the theatre/specific commands, a situation I'm betting has been going on since the Obama days and maybe before (an unfortunate unintended consequence of Goldwater-Nichols). It might not have been an actual desire to hide what was happening. Austin's CoS might have felt no urgency to keep the WH informed because Austin isn't dealing with operational issues on a day-to-day basis.

Yancey Ward said...

The buck is supposed to stop at the President's desk, right?

Just joking- everyone knows Biden is in charge of jack-shit.

Michael said...

At the press conference the white guy went on and on and n about all the military actions conducted during Austin’s absence. Confirming that no SEC OF Defense is actually needed.

SteveWe said...

Right on, Christopher B 12:02.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Iman is firing on all cylinders. 👆🏽

FullMoon said...

Oh my, an investigation?
He's f'kd, right?
haha!

Sally327 said...

Maybe he IS gone and nobody's told us yet.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

“The mishandling of the recent hospitalisation” makes it sound like doctors took out the secretary’s gallbladder by mistake.

Yancey Ward said...

Stacy Abrams is rested and ready.

Leland said...

What is there to investigate???

Austin said he did it! End of investigation.


That and he even said he took full responsibility. I'd say from that point, the responsible step is to resign, but Biden said he wouldn't take the resignation. So, while it is crass to joke about what difference does it make and the reasons why it may not matter; the investigation will only serve to whitewash the issue or give some fig leaf of a reason to fire, when no other reason is necessary.

Likely story a few months from now might be: "DoD IG releases detailed report on SecDef delayed reporting of absence and Republicans pounce."

tim in vermont said...

I think that Austin was involved in a power struggle over policy and feared that people like Sullivan and Blinken would go around him if they knew, or even, God forbid, Nuland. Who ordered the Gerald Ford to return from the Middle East?

If we lived in a banana republic, everyone who was in the know would assume that Austin was embroiled in a power struggle with factional fighting in the DoD and did not want to present his enemies with an opportunity. But we live in the US and have a great leader who is always in control of the important details, so I am not at all worried that whether or not the US starts a war with Iran is being decided in closed door infighting.

mikeski said...

A black trans-woman to be named later will be Sec Def.

Get a black trans woman.
Get a black trans woman.
I'll get a black trans woman,
Blind them to what they can see.
That there's a black trans woman,
Won't defend America or me.

Jupiter said...

Do we have to replace him? How about we just do without a "Secretary of Defense"?

There was a time, before I was born, when the United States referred to the Secretary of War as the Secretary of War.

Jupiter said...

Defend this.

"REPORT: U.S. Army Sees Massive Decline in White Recruits"

narciso said...

that would be mr smithers, and the guy from the munsch painting,

I assume that Magsamen, who came from Soros hive American Progress,

Jim said...

On the other hand, it is comforting to know that DOD is better at keeping a secret than the SEC was about the Bitcoin ETFs.

Quaestor said...

Mishandling, that's Biden Admin gibberish code for criminal behavior we intend to submerge.

Narayanan said...

Why isn't Austin already gone? It's as clear as the nose on his face. And the rest of his facial features as well.
=================
make him tenured faculty at some Ivy League university!

Narayanan said...

Just joking- everyone knows Biden is in charge of jack-shit.
============
is FJB even in charge of shitting his pants?

tim in vermont said...

I am sure that the terror attack in Iran by our proxy and pretext delivery service, ISIS, had nothing to do with trying to get a war with Iran going.

Who in Syria was Ambassador Stevens buying weapons for in Benghazi anyway? We needed some kind of excuse to invade that country, I mean, I am sure that we had a better reason than Putin did in Ukraine, right? I just have not heard it. But I know that it had to do with ISIS killing civilians, but it must be more than that, because Kiev had killed thousands of civilians, using cluster munitions on cities, for one thing, and that didn’t count.

MacMacConnell said...

Austin was disappeared and no one realized he was missing. You wonder why DOD can't win wars.

Narr said...

Guy's a bloaf.

TreeJoe said...

Austin did not share with his boss that he has cancer, that he was under treatment for cancer, that he was going in for surgery, that the surgery resulted in admittance to the ICU, or that he was out of commission for days.

Nor did his staff. And the White House didn't even notice that their Sec Def was gone for multiple days while we are operating in many theaters globally right now.

The entire thing is about trying to misdirect focus and shift blame.

Austin should go, and no one should feel comfortable that our Sec of Defense can be MIA for many days in the middle of major global operations and not be noticed as gone.

Rusty said...

We're going to have a jury of foxes investigate why the chickens keep disappearing. Yeah. Sure.
Epstien didn't kill himself.

DanTheMan said...

AND: Why isn't Austin already gone?

"DEI".

DanTheMan said...

AND: Why isn't Austin already gone?

"DEI".

iowan2 said...

Dump everybodys phone.

That will reveal who Austin actually reports to.

The Obama cartel

The Cabinet Secretaries, are even more figure heads than before. Obama has the the Civil service power hitters in charge. The appointed officers just take orders

Austin stated he was always in charge of his faculties. So he had to be talking to some people.
This is the list of People he did not talk to.

The Deputy SEC DEF
President/Vice President
President's Chief of Staff
Joint Chief of Staff
National Security Advisor
Head of Homeland Security
Military Branch leaders


Ask yourself if you could go days without communicating with anybody?
I'm retired and I get 3 or 4 important calls a week that need attention.
But the SEC DEF never had a need to call a single person involved with the Nations Defense.
Thats with the Iranian proxies attacking the US miltary positions and Shipping in the Middle East.



The Vault Dweller said...

Austin isn't gone because it would hurt Biden with black voters. Even though it is entirely defensible and warranted to fire him for the reckless way he handled his absence for a lot of black voters it would feel like a betrayal.

Maynard said...

How can you let the Secretary of Defense go for hiding health information when it is obvious our president has some level of cognitive impairment and everyone around him thinks they are hiding it?

Good question!

0_0 said...

tim in vermont-
The Ford was recalled because it’s deployment had already been extended and retention would drop even more than it is currently. Being deployed is not easy on sailors, northern families, and nobody signs up for a 12 month deployment.
USS America is in its place, and although it cannot maintain the tempo of a real aircraft carrier, it will do in support of another carrier and is by the way better than almost every other carrier on the planet.

Leland said...

Defend this.

"REPORT: U.S. Army Sees Massive Decline in White Recruits"


Well, the US Army wants to beat Navy:

At-Sea Billet Gaps Rise to 22,000 for E1-E4 Sailors, CNP Says

Wish they weren't competing on how fast they can decline.

I wonder why anybody would join the military. It used to be because it offered a chance of a free education, but there is Biden offering a free college education to everyone that takes out a loan. Of course, many used to join for patriotic reasons, but Obama and Clinton did a great job poking and laughing at the concept of patriotism. Biden's idea of patriotism is to speak at monuments dedicated to patriots and claim the patriots weren't who they were and did the things they did.

Dude1394 said...

He isn't gone because democrats do not have to actually do their jobs well if they tick the correct boxes. See Gay of Harvard for the last example. Austin in just the latest.

Jupiter said...

I suppose I should feel sorry for the poor bastard. Having prostate cancer probably was not on his wish list for 2024, and having the surgery turn into a painfully complicated disaster can't have made it more enjoyable.

tim in vermont said...

I love that “threats to democracy,” AKA white men, have stopped going into our military. I am sure that they didn’t see that one coming.

I am sure that it has nothing to do with things like when I typed in “white” the only suggestions were “supremacy” and “nationalism.”

tim in vermont said...

Do not comply.

Ampersand said...

There is a nonzero chance that Lloyd Austin is still the best person that the Biden Administration would nominate for the job. If that's true, he should stay.
I have no idea whether or not that's true. Probably not.

n.n said...

Austin wasn't away without leave, but merely an undocumented invalid.

Old and slow said...

Iowan2 @ 2:19 has the most succinct comment describing this mess. How long could YOU stop communicating without red flags going up? I'm nobody, and have little responsibility, and shit would start to fall apart if I went AWOL for a couple of days. This is the Secretary of Defense who goes missing with hot wars cooking off, and no one notices? Just what in the hell is going on in Washington? It must be worse than even I imagined.

Aggie said...

There's an old saying in professional sports, "You can sh*t the fans, but you can't sh*t the players", which most of us have probably heard before. But times change - and to every rule, there are exceptions. Apparently, it is eminently possible on certain teams, to 'sh*t the players.'

Christopher B said...

After reviewing some doc I was wrong about the Joint Chiefs. They have no operational role post Goldwater-Nichols, assuming nothing has changed. The SecDef is in the chain of command in place of the service chiefs pre-Goldwater-Nichols.

The whole Vindaman-Ukraine impeachment mess, and how Trump was worked around in general, is what suggests to me that the elevation of the combatant commands has created a situation where the SecDef is likely routinely bypassed at an operational level in favor of operations being green-lighted/planned at the NSC.

Quaestor said...

"If your boss were Joe Biden, would you think you have to explain *anything* to him?"

If your boss were Joe Biden, could you explain *anything* to him?



iowan2 said...

Why isn't Austin gone? You can't be serious, he can't be fired. He has the privilege.

If its an AA hire, they cant be fired. If you hire for immutable traits, you cant fire for incompetence.

Scott Adams advises staying as far away from these DEI hires at all cost. It is impossible to explain how much damage they do to productivity and competence.

Rich said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
boatbuilder said...

They've retained John Durham and the report on the investigation will be complete in 2028.

Mary Beth said...

He wasn't removed for his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Is failing to keep Joe in the loop worse?

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

I want to know why this was spun as "elective surgery." Obviously surgery for prostate cancer isn't "elective."

Joe Smith said...

A review?

Thank God someone's taking this seriously.

But just to be sure I propose a republican in congress write a stern letter...

wendybar said...

Why isn't Austin gone??? THIS...in a nutshell.

https://townhall.com/political-cartoons/margoliscox/2024/01/11/202762?hpnl=true

rcocean said...

Technically his surgery is "elective". No doubt he was given a choice of death, chemo, or an operation.

No operation is mandatory. You can always die.

Joe Smith said...

'Technically his surgery is "elective". No doubt he was given a choice of death, chemo, or an operation.'

There are alternatives to surgery depending upon the severity of the cancer.

So on this I give him a pass...