White House kept in the dark as US defense secretary goes missing for three days

2024 did not start well for the United States or Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, 70, who was reportedly hospitalized on the first day of the year and spent four days in intensive care without the White House being notified.

The reported hospitalization is said to have been caused by complications following an operation, about which nothing is known except that it was “elective” and thus presumably not following an accident or serious illness.

What’s puzzling is that the Pentagon kept this secret from policymakers and lawmakers in Washington DC.

Even President Biden and the White House were kept in the dark for three days about the Secretary of Defense’s condition and the lack of a quorum.

The Pentagon press release of January 5, 2024 read:

“On the evening of January 1, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for complications following a recent elective medical procedure. He is recovering well and is expecting to resume his full duties today. At all times, the Deputy Secretary of Defense was prepared to act for and exercise the powers of the Secretary, if required”.

The deputy secretary of defense is Kathleen H. Hicks, 53, who, according to NBC News, was in Puerto Rico in the Caribbean when her boss was suddenly hospitalized. According to NBC, Hicks decided not to interrupt her vacation.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East and what increasingly appears to be the imminent collapse of the Zelensky regime in Ukraine.

Social media rumors among apparent supporters of former US President Donald J. Trump have for some time hinted at an impending “storm” against the “political swamp” in Washington DC.