WASHINGTON – He put the “secret” in “secretary.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin struggled to keep quiet about his Jan. 1 medical emergency that left him in the hospital for two weeks, with an aide asking 911 operators to take the 70-year-old into an ambulance without turning on the lights and sirens.
“Can I ask – can the ambulance not appear with lights and sirens?” the staffer said in the recording, first obtained by The Daily Beast, adding: “Um, we’re trying to stay a little subtle.”
The dispatcher agreed to deliver the message, noting that “usually when they turn into a residential area, they turn it off.”
However, the operator added that the law in Virginia, where Austin lives, requires EMTs to use lights and sirens on major roads and thoroughfares.
An aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asked the ambulance taking him to the hospital not to turn on its lights or sirens, according to the 911 call. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura/File Photo
It’s the same focus on subtlety that landed the reclusive Austin in trouble on Jan. 5, when it emerged that the secretary had failed to tell her colleagues at the Pentagon — and her White House boss — about her hospitalization.
After Austin was rushed to Walter Reed National Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. in severe pain from a urinary tract infection — a complication from a prostatectomy he had undergone on Dec. 22 — he quietly transferred his authority to Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks on Jan. 2 — without informing him or any of his other Pentagon colleagues of the reasons behind it.
Austin also failed to tell the White House that he had transferred his authority to Hicks, then did so when he finally informed President Biden of his hospitalization on January 4.
But the full story didn’t come out until January 9, when Austin doctor Walter Reed released a statement revealing his prostate cancer diagnosis and early surgery — which was news to the Pentagon and the White House.
His secrecy upset many in Washington, prompting both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to call for his resignation. Biden said he intends to keep Austin as defense secretary,
Austin remained in the hospital until Monday, working throughout his 15-day stay — even participating in planning airstrikes on Houthi forces in Yemen that attacked Red Sea shipping, according to the Pentagon.
Austin was taken to Walter Reed National Army Medical Center due to complications from a prostatectomy he underwent on Dec. 22. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File
He is now working from home and undergoing physical therapy until he fully recovers, the Pentagon said Monday.
Prostate cancer is highly treatable and affects one in eight American men in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. In a statement Monday, Austin’s doctor said his “strength is recovering.”
“Secretary Austin’s prostate cancer was treated early and effectively, and his prognosis is excellent,” his doctor said. “He plans no further treatment for his cancer other than regular post-prostatectomy surveillance.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
