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Voxpress:

The American Secretary of Defense has been in the hospital for days, the Pentagon does not provide information

2024-01-06 16:33:22Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The American Secretary of Defense has been in the hospital for days, the
US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been hospitalized since Monday for an undisclosed medical problem, the Pentagon said late Friday, without giving details on what he was receiving treatment for or why he kept his stay in the hospital a secret. hospital all week.

The 70-year-old Austin is the second most important person in the hierarchy of the US military after President Joe Biden who is the commander in chief and his position requires that he be available all the time to respond to any kind of national security crisis.

The Pentagon did not say whether Mr. Austin was at any time unconscious before or after he was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Jan. 1, or what powers his deputy, Kathleen Hicks, was exercising during that time.

The Pentagon said Secretary Austin had "complications following a recent medical procedure," but declined to say what the procedure and complications were.

"He is recovering well and will resume full duty today," Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon's top spokesman, said in a statement Friday.

Just a day earlier, spokesman Ryder held a press conference to give the idea of ​​normalcy at the Pentagon, offering Mr. Austin's condolences to ally Japan after the New Year earthquake, for example.

But the past week has not been normal for the Pentagon, as US troops in the Middle East deal with the regional fallout from the Israel-Hamas war and launched an attack on Baghdad on Thursday.

The Pentagon Press Association, in a letter to Pentagon officials, criticized the Defense Department's withholding of the news, saying Secretary Austin was a public figure who in such a situation is deprived of privacy for a treatment medical.

"At a time when there are increasing threats to US military service members in the Middle East and the US is playing key national security roles in the wars in Israel and Ukraine, it is especially important that the American public be informed about health status. and the decision-making ability of the senior defense leader," the letter said.

The association points out that even American presidents announce when they need to delegate powers due to medical procedures.

The way the Defense Department handled Secretary Austin's hospitalization stands in contrast to the way the State Department handled prostate surgery for then-Secretary of State Colin Powell on December 15, 2003.

The State Department spokesman at the time issued a statement this morning announcing that Mr. Powell, a retired four-star general, was undergoing surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and would remain there for several days.

He also announced that Mr. Powell would be working reduced hours while he recovered from the operation. The State Department spokesman at the time, Richard Boucher, later provided details of Mr. Powell's operation at his daily briefing.

Mr. Boucher, contacted by Reuters on Friday, said the main question about the public announcement was whether Mr. Austin had been under anesthesia or unconscious at any point.

"Was there any point in the process where he couldn't function as secretary of defense? If you can move and still get information and you have the aides nearby and you can make decisions immediately ... then maybe there's no public need to be notified,” he said.
The Pentagon has yet to respond to the question of whether Secretary Austin was at any point unconscious. /VOA


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