WASHINGTON – Last week, the Department of Defense (DOD) failed to inform the White House’s National Security Council and members of Congress of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s recent hospitalization, where he spent four days in the intensive care unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Secretary Austin was admitted to the hospital on Monday, January 1, 2024, for complications from a December surgery to treat prostate cancer and has yet to be released from Walter Reed.

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) and every Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee in writing a letter to Secretary Austin, expressing their concerns regarding the communications breakdown between the Pentagon, the White House, and elected officials. They also requested a detailed timeline of events related to his hospitalization and how the DOD designated the secretary’s duties and responsibilities to his subordinates during his vacancy.

At the time of his hospitalization, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico, and given incomplete information about Secretary Austin’s status. The third in line among Pentagon civilian leadership, Derek Chollet, nominee to be Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, has not been confirmed by the Senate. Ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine, coupled with a leadership vacuum from our nation’s top three defense officials, has warranted considerable apprehension and necessitates oversight to ensure it is not repeated.

“The department’s failure to immediately inform the President, Congress, and the Comptroller General of the United States of your incapacitation clearly contravenes the requirements of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. Further, the apparent failure to even notify your lawful successor in this case is a massive failure of judgment and negligence. It is an intolerable breach of trust with the American people at a dangerous moment for U.S. national security,” the senators wrote.

“In particular, the administration needs to provide answers on how it complied with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (FVRA) […] Given that you were unable to perform the functions and duties of your office, it is our reading of the statute that at the moment that your incapacity occurred, the FVRA required Deputy Secretary Hicks, then the acting department head, to immediately report both the vacancy and her acting service to Congress. However, the Department of Defense did not notify Congress until four days later, after the vacancy had already ended,” the senators added.

Click here to read the letter.