Yet, Austin does not seem to be part of Biden’s true national security inner circle, which includes US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, both of whom have worked with Biden very closely for many years. Austin also served as Central Command (CENTCOM) commander, where he helped lead the fight against ISIS in Iraq from 2014 during the Obama administration. When Biden was vice president and was running the Iraq portfolio for the Obama administration, Austin was the top general who presided over the US withdrawal of troops from Iraq in 2011. That role, among other things, puts you in the room for decisions involving nuclear weapons, although the president has the sole authority to order the launch of those weapons.īiden tapped Austin to be secretary of defense in part because of their previous experience together. The Pentagon has also offered up the rationale that Austin’s chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, was out with flu when the Secretary of Defense was first hospitalized, but the Pentagon is the world’s largest employer with 2.86 million employees, so the notion that relaying Austin’s condition hinged on only one of them is confounding.Įveryone is entitled to keep their own medical information to themselves or to select people, but that doesn’t preclude telling others that you are out of commission for a few days, especially when you are the US secretary of defense. Opinion: ISIS attacks spotlight the simmering mess growing in the Middle EastĪustin’s introversion and seeming lack of Washington savvy may help explain why he and his team didn’t give senior US national security officials a heads-up about his condition.

(Photo by Mohammad Ali Mohammadian/Anadolu via Getty Images) Ali Mohammadian/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Qassem Soleimani is located, mourn during the funeral ceremony in Kerman, Iran on January 05, 2024. KERMAN, IRAN - JANUARY 05: Relatives of victims in twin explosions near the cemetery where the grave of Iran's former top military commander Gen. Bush but also served under Obama.ĭespite his decades of military experience, Austin is neither a politician nor a longtime DC insider, and instead is known to be an introvert who only gives public speeches and interviews relatively infrequently. Leon Panetta, who served under former President Barack Obama, or a longtime Washington player like Robert Gates, who was appointed by former President George W. William Cohen, who served under former President Bill Clinton or former Rep. Typically, the US Secretary of Defense is a savvy politician like former Sen. For at least part of his time in the hospital, Austin was in the intensive care unit. The White House wasn’t informed until Thursday of Austin’s condition, nor were senior Pentagon officials like Austin’s number two at the Pentagon, Kathleen Hicks. And the odd thing is that there may be very little Biden can do about it, practically speaking.įor the past week, Austin has been at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside of Washington DC, where he was admitted on Monday, January 1, after he experienced “severe pain” following an elective surgery on December 22. The absence of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is a surprising development that puts a harsh light on President Joe Biden’s national security team. In the midst of an international crisis involving the US military, the top civilian leader of the Pentagon was hospitalized for days without the commander in chief knowing his whereabouts.

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