Lloyd Austin was in the hospital for days; apparently, nobody knew. He was in intensive care and is still hospitalized. He was unable to perform his duties for much of that time, suggesting he was drugged or unconscious.

His Deputy, who apparently was “ready” to serve in his stead, was on vacation out of the country. She didn’t know that Austin was out of commission.

The White House didn’t know. The National Security Council didn’t know. Apparently, only Austin’s direct staff knew.

Defense Secretary is hospitalized in intensive care. Total secrecy: the president, National Security Council, deputy secretary, and oversight committees are all kept in the dark. Hard to see how Austin keeps job. Also: Didn't anybody notice? https://t.co/t5OTDddmfZ

— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 7, 2024

When the deputy secretary of defense began assuming some of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s responsibilities on January 2, not even she knew that it was because Austin was hospitalized, two defense officials told CNN.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, the Pentagon’s number two leader, was among the senior leaders kept in the dark about Austin’s true whereabouts until Thursday, three days after the secretary checked into Walter Reed medical center following complications from an elective surgery. Not even the president was aware of Austin’s hospitalization until three days into his stay there, CNN previously reported.

The revelation that not even Hicks knew that Austin was hospitalized is sure to add to questions swirling within the administration about why his status was kept secret, not only from the public but from senior national security officials and the White House.

There are lots of news stories about this affair. The press corps is upset. Austin’s job is likely at risk, and it should be.

But leave all that aside for the moment. I fully expect the fallout from this fiasco to be epic, but let’s keep our eye on the ball for a moment.

The Secretary of Defense can disappear, and nobody notices.

During several wars, a crisis in the Red Sea, American troops and assets abroad getting attacked, the Secretary of Defense could disappear for a week, and nobody noticed.

We have a 15 minute warning time for nuclear attacks from Russia and China with the latest weapons. The SECDEF is vital in responding. The failure to tell the WH that the SECDEF was in the ICU for 3 days is a failure in leadership. We need corrections now. https://t.co/dojMnoof53

— Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸 (@RepDonBacon) January 7, 2024

Apparently, we don’t actually need a Secretary of Defense. I bet you thought he was an important part of the chain of command in the world’s most powerful military, armed with nukes.

Nope. No big deal at all that he went missing and nobody knew. Not even his Deputy. Who was out of the country.

If the country doesn’t need a president, it can do without a Secretary of Defense. Right? How often is Biden on duty?

Austin’s bet that he could follow the president’s lead seemed to pay off. For a week, he was AWOL, and nobody had a clue.

Lots of interesting questions pop into my mind. Since I doubt that no military or national security decisions were made during the past week, it seems pretty clear that Austin is nothing but a figurehead. Literally, nobody in the national security establishment thought to get advice from Austin about anything, even though the US was putting together a military coalition to defend shipping in the Red Sea, and we are deeply involved in wars in Ukraine and Israel.

Another question: How is it that with hundreds of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria and the Red Sea, and wars raging in Europe and the Middle East, that the president and his top advisors went three days without speaking to his secretary of defense?

This is as embarrassing… https://t.co/xG0ybQs8LT

— Marc Thiessen 🇺🇸❤️🇺🇦🇹🇼🇮🇱 (@marcthiessen) January 7, 2024

This puts an exclamation point on the fact that, as Beege wrote a couple of weeks ago, the White House is running the show in the Red Sea without using any military advice. Nobody cared to know what the SecDef thought about anything for a week. It never occurred to anybody anywhere in the government to check in with the guy.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was able to go an entire week without knowing that the Secretary of Defense was AWOL. Naive people might think that the NSA would chat once or twice a week with the SecDef in the middle of crises, military strikes, and negotiations with other countries’ militaries.

Nope.

Thank God the adults are in charge.

It would be a mistake to view this absurd scandal in isolation. It is a symptom of the systemic problem that is the Biden Administration. The president is a figurehead. The Defense Secretary is a figurehead. Pete Buttigieg is nothing but a figurehead. Do you remember him being on leave during the height of the supply chain crisis? All the people you think are in charge are simply figureheads these days.

Who really runs things? A bunch of people in the shadows of the administrative state- almost certainly those leftovers from the Obama Administration who populate the Biden Administration–run things. The Biden Administration is like the late Roman Emperors, who were figureheads for the Praetorian Guard. Today, the Praetorian Guard is the Obama Alumni who populate the Biden Administration.

It would be interesting to see phone logs–how many calls to figures in the White House come from Barack Obama and his cronies outside the White House. And by that, I don’t mean Obama calls to Biden or cabinet members, but to the Deputies and Assistant Deputies who have their fingers on the buttons and who get things done.

Sullivan may not have thought to talk to Austin last week…but what do you want to bet he talked to Obama?

Think about that…and what it means regarding who actually runs the country.