US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was treated for prostate cancer in early December and hospitalized last week for complications from the procedure, the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center revealed on Tuesday. The hospital stay was kept secret from both the White House and the American public for several days.

The Pentagon first mentionedAustin’s absence last Friday, telling reporters he had resumed his duties. Over the weekend, it emerged that the former general was still at Walter Reed, working remotely, and that he hadn’t informed President Joe Biden or the National Security Council of his absence.

A Pentagon spokesman described the cause of Austin’s hospitalization as complications from an “elective surgery,” which were not disclosed due to privacy concerns.

According to a statement posted by two Walter Reed officials, Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer during a screening early last month and went in for a “minimally invasive surgical procedure”called prostatectomy on December 22. 

He was under general anesthesia but “recovered uneventfully” and went home the next morning, said the statement signed by Trauma Medical Director Dr. John Maddox and Dr. Gregory Chesnut from the Center for Prostate Disease Research.

 

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https://www.rt.com/news/590360-pentagon-austin-cancer-hospital/

 

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SEE ALSO: https://time.com/6553301/secretary-lloyd-austin-surgery-national-security/

 

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https://www.theinteldrop.org/2024/01/09/austin-wounded-in-kiev-when-kinzhal-blew-through-patriot-missile-defenses/

Hamas did it? Austin Wounded in Kiev when Kinzhal Blew Through Patriot Missile Defenses...

 

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But what I wanted to underline now is just the fact that for this compelling reason the Secretary of the DoD cannot make himself unavailable to the President of the United States for several days (whether 5 or even just 4 there, God forbid, but it is time enough to start a nuclear war!)

Even more so in a time of escalation of international tensions (you read wars!) like the present one.

Isn’t it more reasonable to hypothesize the reliability of alternative versions to this official one?

Official Statement of the Pentagon annexed:

”Statement From Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder on Secretary of Defense Austin Jan. 5, 2024 | Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder provided the following statement on Secretary of Defense Austin:

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.”

 

Russian Claim: Austin Dead In Ukraine

By Michael Baxter, January 7, 2024

”Criminal Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was allegedly killed in Kyiv on January 3 when Russian cruise missiles peltered a command bunker where Austin and Lieutenant General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander in chief of the Ukrainian Army, met secretly to discuss mounting an asymmetrical offensive to “bring Vladimir Putin to his knees,” claims a Russian FSB source known for providing invaluable intelligence and the truth behind Putin’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine.

FSB agent Andrei Zakharov’s tale, however, directly contradicts an administration narrative about Austin clandestinely hospitalizing himself for an unknown ailment at Walter Reed Hospital. Friday evening, a frenzied media went haywire after Politico ran an article about Austin admitting himself to the hospital and staying there an entire week without notifying his criminal in chief, pResident Joseph R. Biden. The report quickly spiraled into undreamt of drama that engulfed all levels of government, with several lawmakers calling for Austin to resign for poor judgment and lack of transparency at once. Austin’s unannounced absence has embarrassed a criminal regime struggling to stay afloat. Zakharov refutes the hospital story because, he insists, Austin and a bevy of Ukrainian brass were tucked away in what they thought was a secure military command center 20 feet beneath the streets of Pecheskry District in central Kyiv. Russian intelligence, he added, had marginal luck tracking Austin’s trips into and out of Ukraine since early 2023. Austin had spent so much time in Kyiv he ought to have applied for Ukrainian citizenship, Zakharov joked, adding that the secretive and self-admittedly reclusive Austin had traveled to Ukraine from Poland eight times in 2023. In early November, a Spetznas “hunter-killer” team entered Kyiv undetected after learning that Austin had arrived in Ukraine to personally deliver fantastic news to Zelenskyy: the U.S. and U.K. had voted to give him even more free money and arms. The Spetznas had eyes on Austin and Zelenskyy and came close to killing them, but the team aborted the mission at the last moment due to unforeseen and unspecified complications. Vladimir Putin, Zakharov said, had bestowed upon Austin the title of “war criminal.” Putin, he added, delighted in Austin’s demise. “We knew Austin was in Ukraine, and we discovered their rendezvous point. We also know the pig Zaluzhnyi, and he is killer of the women and the children, was to meet his lieutenants to learn them about new drone warfare. They were our intended targets. Austin was a bonus.” Twenty cruise missiles, he said, destroyed surface buildings and collapsed a labyrinth of interconnecting chambers underground. A battle damage assessment revealed the strike had razed the structures and cratered what lay beneath. Only rubble remained. “Nothing on this earth could survive what we sent. Yes, he is dead. He must be dead,” Zakharov said. 

Real Raw News’ American sources in the White Hat community, while stopping short of dismissing Zakharov’s story as wishful thinking, said they want to see irrefutable proof of Austin’s death before scratching his name off their own “most wanted” list.

However, they’ve called the official narrative a blatant lie, for if Austin had gone to Walter Reed, their sources would have taken notice and informed General Smith’s office. “We don’t know if that Russian story is baloney or not.

Our sources at Reed are unimpeachable and they say he was never there. And as far as your other question, Mike, we don’t have him. If I learn more and can share, I’ll let you know,” a source in the general’s office”

It may be said, but the version that he was killed is clearly contradicted by his reappearance.

But, given the stakes in terms of Public Relations, the possible killing of a US Secretary of the DOD during a secret meeting in Kyiv with President Zelensky would have been highly destabilizing for the Western coalition that supports Ukraine and for Peace in general.

So much so as to justify a James Bond style eventual replacement with a puppet lookalike. 

 

https://www.theinteldrop.org/2024/01/12/a-strange-unavailability-and-coincidence/

 

SEE ALSO: https://www.rt.com/news/590527-us-defense-secretary-austin-ordered-strikes-hospital/

 

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‘Let’s face it, they dodged a bullet’ — Leon Panetta explained what exactly went wrong for Lloyd Austin

The former defense secretary and White House chief of staff doesn’t believe the saga will have major ripple effects. But he does think changes are needed.

 

By MYAH WARD

 

One of the most immediate fallouts of the Lloyd Austin saga will come tomorrow, when all Cabinet agencies must submit their procedures for delegating authority to the White House.

They will do so in response to an order from chief of staff Jeff Zients, who demanded as much after the Defense secretary’s secret hospitalization sparked questions about transparency and ensuring lines of succession.

To break down this particular element of an ever-expanding story, West Wing Playbook called Leon Panetta, who served both as White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton and secretary of Defense under Barack Obama. This conversation has been edited for length.

 

hat’s gone through your mind has you’ve followed this story? 

Lloyd Austin has done a great job as secretary of Defense. He’s had to deal with a lot of critical issues and be on the road dealing with our allies pretty much full time. But it’s precisely because he’s important to our national security, and a key part of the chain of command, that I think it’s very important for him to have notified the president, the national security team, and obviously the public if in any way he’s incapacitated.

He’s accepted responsibility and said he’s going to do a better job. Look, I’ve been in and out of Washington for over 50 years. There’s a lesson that is always very hard to learn in Washington, which is that you’re always better off telling the truth. And if you in any way try to avoid it, the truth is eventually going to come out. And you’ll pay a price. 

How did this communication work for you when you were in these roles? 

When I was chief of staff, it was the case that people in the Cabinet called me and gave me a heads-up if they were either going to be gone, leave town for a while or be hospitalized. We had a policy that that should be the case.

And when I was in the Obama administration, I would stay in pretty regular touch with Rahm Emmanuel, who was chief of staff, both with regards to where I was going, but also the operations I was involved with. 

So there wasn’t a handbook on your first day laying out those expectations on the delegation of power and communication? It’s more of an understanding?

There’s been a gradual deterioration here with regards to the role of the Cabinet. Because so much authority is centralized in the White House these days, the Cabinet really only comes together usually for a press briefing by the president. 

Normally, what should be the case is there’s a secretary to the Cabinet, and there should be regular meetings with the Cabinet to not only inform them about issues going on but also to stay in touch with them, so that they feel like they’re part of the team. As that relationship generally has been strained in the last number of years, I think everybody kind of operates on their own. You saw a little bit of that happen here. 

Do you believe Zients needed this review to ensure there’s formal policy in place? 

Absolutely. It’s one of those things that I’m sure a lot of people take for granted, but you really do need to have a formal policy. 

As chief of staff, how did you ensure your expectations for Cabinet members were clear?

In many ways, what I did was to try to become a surrogate for the president in dealing with the Cabinet. You have to go out of your way to maintain that kind of relationship. 

I can only imagine remote capabilities and technological advances make that more challenging. 

Oh yeah, everybody’s on Zoom. Everybody’s on a laptop. And you avoid that personal touch, which I think it’s true in government and in business.

When you were Defense secretary, to what extent did someone always know your whereabouts? 

I made sure that my chief of staff informed the White House whenever we took a trip anywhere, whether it was in the country visiting a base or whether it was overseas. And usually informed the national security adviser as well. 

Look, I have a lot of experience in government. And I just always felt it was much better to keep the White House fully informed so that they wouldn’t be blindsided. That’s why I said protocols are very important. You can kind of stand back and say, “Well shit, that’s kind of common sense, for Christ’s sake.” But it isn’t always common sense. People are all busy. They’re all doing their own thing. You suddenly have a trip where you’re going to do something in your Cabinet position, and the last thing you think about is informing the White House because that’s the habit that’s developed. That’s what you can’t afford to have happen.

So how would you handle the fallout from all of this? 

This is a case where it seems that responsibility falls on a number of shoulders, and so you can’t very well clean house going up to the president. But at the very least you could try — and I think Austin did that to some extent, by accepting responsibility for the screw-up and making it clear that he could’ve done a better job. 

Let’s face it, they dodged a bullet because if something had happened in that gap that was created, that could’ve been a serious event.

You mention Austin taking responsibility. But then, we found out the president wasn’t informed until this week about the original reasoning behind his health issues. 

There is a tendency to kind of say, “Well look, this is a private matter, I don’t have to tell anybody.” But the problem is, you’re secretary of Defense. You have a huge responsibility to the public.

Does this alter his relationship with the White House?

Because it’s a personal matter, obviously related to cancer, I don’t think so. I think if it were a difference on a major policy decision, national security, then it becomes a different matter. But these kinds of things — no matter how big or small — they are always going to have some impact on the relationship because the White House is going to wonder in the future whether they’re getting the full truth.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/11/lets-face-it-they-dodged-a-bullet-leon-panetta-explained-what-exactly-went-wrong-for-lloyd-austin-00135132

 

 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zG-s8M7HXs

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was admitted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday—his second hospitalization since the start of the year—due to what officials said was an “emergent bladder issue,” adding he has transferred his duties to his deputy.

Lloyd Austin Admitted To Critical Care With Bladder Issue

 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq0uOKJCelw

ALMOST UNWATCHABLE: Nancy Mace Unrelentingly Grills Lloyd Austin About Unannounced Hospitalization

 

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