On Monday, Jan. 8, Defense Department spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder took the podium to speak to the Pentagon press corps about Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his secret absence from duty. The brief was intended to clarify why his hospitalization was kept from the news media, the deputy secretary of defense, the National Security Council, the secretaries of the military departments, and the president. It did not do that.
If anything, the briefing raised more questions and turned a brighter light on the failure of the defense secretary to be a reliable leader of the national command. While Ryder explained Austin’s mysterious absence by addressing “timeline questions,” it clarified nothing about why the secretary believed it was essential to keep his boss and Pentagon staff in the dark.
Austin Started Medical Saga Before Christmas
Kathleen Hicks (Photo by Alex…
