UPDATE: Congress Not Told SecDef Austin Was in the ICU and His Deputy on Vacation for the Last Week

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was in the intensive care unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for five days while his second-in-command was on vacation in Puerto Rico, and no one thought to tell Congress.

Friday, I reported on Austin being hospitalized since New Year's Day for "complications" from an "elective medical procedure." Now NBC News reports that the story was much worse than Austin lolling about in a hospital bed with bandages on...well, whatever. He was actually in intensive care, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks was on leave in Puerto Rico.

Pentagon officials refused to describe Austin's condition or say what, exactly, prevented him from carrying out his duties this week.
The Pentagon also would not release details about the procedure or when it took place, and it won't say whether Austin was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
Asked why the Pentagon kept Austin's hospitalization secret, Ryder told NBC News, "This has been an evolving situation in which we had to consider a number of factors."

While Austin was in the ICU and his deputy on vacation, the US carried out a drone strike on the leader of an Iranian militia responsible for attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria.

Aftermath of U.S. strike on Abu Taqwa, the commander of the 12th Brigade of Iranian-sponsored Popular Mobilization Forces, today in Baghdad.

Iraqi authorities have already blamed the attack on the International Coalition Forces led by the United States, calling it a gross… pic.twitter.com/iGLUkEYVWw
— Clash Report (@clashreport) January 4, 2024

American Forces Attacked by Iranian Proxies 84 Times in 52 Days and Biden Does Nothing

Biden Waits Until a US Soldier Is Critically Injured to Authorize Retaliation Against Iranian Militias

I suppose there is a certain “je ne sais quoi” in giving the order to off a terrorist a**hole while wrapped in IV lines or sipping a piña colada on the beach, but it seems terribly unprofessional.

Allegedly, Austin "resumed full duties" Friday night, but he's still hospitalized.

UPDATE: @SecDef is still in the hospital and recovering well, per @PentagonPresSec. He resumed his full duties last evening.

“I don’t have any updates to provide at this time in terms of when he’ll be discharged, but we will be sure to keep you and others updated.” https://t.co/1AfNJlLTbl
— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) January 6, 2024

While I thought Austin being in the hospital for a week without notifying Congress was a grave dereliction of duty, that pales in comparison to what we now know.

Sometime before New Year's Day, Austin underwent some sort of "elective" surgery that the Pentagon is being very cagey about. This implies that the surgery was not as elective as, say, a radical colon craniectomy might have been. Austin was released from the hospital, suffered some sort of medical event, and was readmitted to Walter Reed. This time, he was sent to the ICU and remained there for five days before being moved to a regular room.

So far, the Pentagon has refused to say whether Austin ever lost consciousness (this could be because it was too hard to tell) and the degree to which his Democrat apparatchik deputy took over his duties and for how long.

While we are focused on Congressional notification, no one has yet asked if the White House was told.