The White House is also conducting a review of each of the Cabinet agencies’ protocols in the event that someone needs to take over authority
Following the defence secretary’s previously undisclosed absence, the White House issued a new set of procedures to Cabinet members if their duties can’t be performed.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalisation arose from complications of a procedure for prostate cancer, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday.
Hours earlier, the White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients told Cabinet secretaries in a memo, obtained by the Associated Press, that if the Cabinet members need to re-delegate authority, they must notify his office and Offices of Cabinet Affairs and White House Chief of Staff.
Mr Zients added that the White House will be “conducting a review of agency protocols for a delegation of authority.” Each department is required to submit its current protocols by Friday 12 January to the Office of Cabinet Affairs, the memo added.
Wait.
They don’t have this sorted out… you know…. As a matter of running the damn government?
There’s probably a default chain of command; they’re probably just realising that the chain is dominated by geriatrics and oligarchs who don’t know how to govern without being hand held by corporate lawyers and lobbyists.
Every job I’ve ever worked had a way to call out sick, detailed on day one.
Every job with a shred of responsibility, keeping coverage by confirming that the other guy was covering while letting my boss know that I was out of pocket for a bit was basic procedure.
They do have a procedure- especially for the SecDef. The problem is that it wasn’t followed. At all.
This level of incompetence is infuriating
Of course it was already sorted out - Deputy secdef Hicks took over, and there’s a whole process around what who it would have been if she wasn’t available.
Given the global volatility, being merely on call if something happens isn’t cool.
At that level of authority/responsibility… you need to have someone around to mind the shop, and you do not take ”elective” procedures (per press secretary,) without having someone authorized to mind the shop around.
If it was an emergency procedure, okay, get Hicks on a plane ride home asap. I assume elective means that it wasn’t emergency, rather than to say it wasn’t necessary… aka this was scheduled for some time, and why the hell was Hicks in PR when it was scheduled.
Also anonymously-given reports are saying people didn’t know Austin was gone (or merely was on vacation.) which kinda implies the call tree was fucked
I have to access my jobs site every morning so it logs me in and they know I’m working. The SecDef can just go AWOL and nothing happens? How necessary is this dude if no one realized he was gone for a week?
Like most bosses they’re not really doing anything required for day-to-day operations. As a society we are over-administered and over-managed.
Are we even tracking their work Tickets for progress? /s
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Following the defence secretary’s previously undisclosed absence, the White House issued a new set of procedures to Cabinet members if their duties can’t be performed.
The memo was sent days after it was revealed that the defence secretary had been undergoing hospitalisation and was put under general anaesthesia — and apparently failed to notify President Joe Biden or his top aides.
Seemingly directly referring to the incident involving Mr Austin, whose surgery the memo noted, it said: “Agencies should ensure that delegations are issued when a Cabinet Member is traveling to areas with limited or no access to communication, undergoing hospitalization or a medical procedure requiring general anesthesia, or otherwise in a circumstance when he or she may be unreachable.”
After the memo was sent on Tuesday, the Pentagon revealed that the defence secretary underwent a “minimally invasive medical procedure to treat and cure prostate cancer” on 22 December.
On 1 January, Mr Austin “began experiencing severe pain” and was taken to the ICU at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder.
On 6 January, Mr Austin issued a statement, claiming “full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.” He acknowledged “media concerns about transparency” and said he could have “done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed.”
The original article contains 391 words, the summary contains 217 words. Saved 45%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
