Lloyd Austin’s secret surgery was unusual, but not unprecedented
Secretary of defense Lloyd Austin underwent an elective surgical procedure, still unspecified, at the end of December. Because complications, also unspecified, developed, he was hospitalized on Monday and spent three days in intensive care. He is still in the hospital as of Monday, January 8. What is remarkable about this episode is that the public was not informed that the man who is in charge of national defense and sixth in the line to the presidency was seriously ill. But neither was the White House itself. President Biden did not learn that his defense secretary was, well, hors de combat, until Thursday, and the public did not learn of it until Friday. Austen’s deputy apparently didn’t know either as she was on vacation in Puerto Rico.
