The White House chief of staff is also ordering Cabinet heads to notify his office if they ever can’t perform their duties. https://t.co/eyMvMlhJmi
— ArmyTimes (@ArmyTimes) January 9, 2024
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients launched a review of Cabinet protocols on Tuesday, Axios reported, largely in response to the fact that even President Joe Biden was left in the dark when his Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, spent several days in the Intensive Care Unit.
The White House was reportedly informed — just hours before the news went public — that Austin, who was said to be working from home, was actually hospitalized at Walter Reed Military Medical Center after “complications” arose from an elective procedure. It was later revealed that Austin had undergone a prostatectomy as part of treatment for prostate cancer.
According to Axios’ report, Zients sent a memo to all cabinet secretaries directing them to “submit your existing protocols for a delegation of authority” — meaning who would immediately assume responsibility if the secretary was indisposed — no later than January 12.
[YGBFKM. Are we to assume that Biden waited until almost the fourth year of his presidency to make this request for what would be SOP in any other organization from the start? This is basic executive competence, and everyone involved has failed its test. — Ed]
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