Tipsheet

As U.S. Troops Come Under Attack, White House Can't Say Where the Defense Secretary Is Making Decisions

Katie Pavlich
Katie Pavlich  |  January 10, 2024 3:45 PM

After days of not knowing the whereabouts of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the White House still doesn't know where exactly he's making major decisions or taking phone calls. Austin remains at Walter Reed Medical Center after secretly undergoing surgery for prostate cancer in December, resulting in an infection that landed him in the intensive care unit last week. 

When asked about where Austin is making national security decisions, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby couldn't specify Wednesday whether Austin was taking calls to a hospital bed or somewhere else within the hospital. 

"You said that Secretary Austin took part in the conversations regarding the Red Sea. Do you know if he was conducting his business from the bedside, or is he released from the hospital?" a reporter asked. 

"I would refer you to the Pentagon for his whereabouts and his condition. It's our under..yesterday, at least for where he is today. Yesterday, he was still in the hospital when he participated in that discussion," Kirby responded. 

Kirby was also pressed on the "essential" description given to Austin considering that for days nobody in the White House noticed he was missing. 

Recommended

And With That Development, the Matt Gaetz Ethics Report Is Likely to Leak Soon Matt Vespa
Trump 'All In' on Matt Gaetz as Attorney General Matt Vespa

Since Austin was secretly hospitalized, Iranian backed groups have attacked American troops in the Middle East nearly a dozen times. Commercial shipping in the Red Sea has been brought to a halt due to an onslaught of missile and drone attacks from the Iranian backed Houthis in Yemen.