Pentagon officials also failed for two days last week to notify Austin’s second-in-command that he had transferred authority to her while he was in the ICU, and while she was in Puerto Rico.
That’s the real goof. I don’t really see a problem with the secdef being hospitalized and not immediately notifying the President. They need DoD stuff, they call on him, and if he’s not available, for any reason, it should immediately fall to the deputy. The White House staff, and especially the deputy, should have been told.
Ultimately this just seems to have been a breakdown in communication, but even if war were declared, I don’t think it would have been a significant issue. This is media hype bs to distract from real issues.
Yeah, this was an unprofessional fuckup from a position that should have zero fuckups, but it’s not multi-day national news. I’m surprised he’s not being fired, but if the president thinks this was a one time thing that won’t happen again, that’s fine.
I don’t blame him, I blame his staff. A routine procedure, meh. But he goes into the ICU, his staff should be notifying the White House and the deputy, and probably the joint chiefs, among others.
That’s the real goof. I don’t really see a problem with the secdef being hospitalized and not immediately notifying the President. They need DoD stuff, they call on him, and if he’s not available, for any reason, it should immediately fall to the deputy. The White House staff, and especially the deputy, should have been told.
Ultimately this just seems to have been a breakdown in communication, but even if war were declared, I don’t think it would have been a significant issue. This is media hype bs to distract from real issues.
Yeah, but this is a breakdown in communication that he should have initiated.
He shouldn’t be fired for having cancer, but he should be fired for not managing the situation correctly.
Yeah, this was an unprofessional fuckup from a position that should have zero fuckups, but it’s not multi-day national news. I’m surprised he’s not being fired, but if the president thinks this was a one time thing that won’t happen again, that’s fine.
I don’t blame him, I blame his staff. A routine procedure, meh. But he goes into the ICU, his staff should be notifying the White House and the deputy, and probably the joint chiefs, among others.