U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin remained in the hospital on Sunday as more details emerged about key decision-makers, even President Joe Biden, being kept in the dark for days that the Pentagon chief had been in the intensive care unit at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The Pentagon’s failure to disclose Austin’s hospitalization, particularly at a time when the United States is juggling myriad national security crises, runs counter to normal practice with the president and other senior U.S. officials and cabinet members.
A senior defence official said Deputy Secretary of Defence Kathleen Hicks was not notified until Thursday that Austin had been hospitalized since
