WASHINGTON: The US Defence Department’s inspector general office said on Thursday it had opened a review into the handling of Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalisation.

It will be the first independent, non-partisan probe into Austin’s secret prostate cancer diagnosis, his surgery and hospitalisation. Both the Pentagon and Republican lawmakers have announced their own reviews.

Austin, who is 70, has been hospitalised since Jan 1 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre — a fact the Pen­tagon had kept from the public, the White House and Congress for much of last week, triggering a major political backlash.

President Joe Biden’s administration has struggled to calm the political furor over revelations the president did not know of his defence secretary’s Jan 1 hospitalisation until Jan 4.

An inspector general’s office statement said: “The objective of the review is to examine the roles, processes, procedures, responsibilities, and actions related to the Secretary of Defence’s hospitalisation.”

It said the review would “assess whether the DoD’s policies and procedures are sufficient to ensure timely and appropriate notifications and the effective transition of authorities.”

Austin sits just below Biden at the top of the US military’s chain of command. His duties require him to be available at a moment’s notice to respond to any national security crisis.

That includes always being ready to enter secure communications with other officials in the event of an incoming nuclear attack, something that could be difficult from an intensive care unit.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2024