Administration is giving is solid on the door to make sure that every attack, everything that every attack, everything that occurs is consistent with the law, but also to look at the law, but also to look at the political and human repercussions, which go outside the law but can affect the possibility of ever having a lasting peace in this region. we will have to leave it there. thank you so much forjoining us on bbc news. us defence secretary, lloyd austin, was still in the hospital monday, a week after he was admitted to intensive care for an undisclosed illness. the pentagon says he has returned to full duties. however, the secrecy of austin s hospital stay has raised concerns about transparency problems from the nation s top security establishment. here s what we know so far. on december 22nd, austin had an elective medical procedure while on leave, returning home the next day. the secretary was admitted to the intensive care unit at walter reed medical center on new year s day aft
From his january 1st hospitalization, makes no mention of that december 22nd stay, which of course we all have questions about why the pentagon did not also notify the white house and the president when the secretary was in the hospital overnight. guys. natasha, you ve been doing great reporting on this, so many unanswered questions still, which is remarkable. thank you. this morning investigators believe it was a gas explosion that caused the blast at a hotel in fort worth, texas. just look at that devastation. 21 people were hurt, some critically. thankfully no deaths have been reported, but this blast sent debris into the street downtown as firefighters rushed to rescue people who were actually trapped in the basement. the fire department says 26 of the rooms there were occupied. overnight crews went room to room trying to make sure no one else was trapped. officials say the 104-year-old building was renovated recently and some work was going on at the time of the explosion. a f
To reveal for days to people who should have been told that he was still in the hospital. i hope every person in the cabinet recognizes that this was not an appropriate step, not an appropriate way to handle what was his hospitalization. that is unacceptable said the top republican on the armed services committee. we are learning more every hour about the defense department s shocking defiance of the law. also in the dark were the most senior members of the biden administration. i wasn t aware of his medical issue. reporter: he still has complete confidence in austin and isn t asking him to resign. the white house said today that the way austin notified them needs to be reviewed. i think there s an expectation that when a cabinet official becomes hospitalized, that will be notified up the chain of command. reporter: austin s initial surgery was december 22nd he went home the next day then he was rush ed to the icu on januay
Clarity and transparency when a determination has been made that certain authorities have been transferred, and two, that proper and timely notification has been made to the president and white house and as appropriate the united states congress and the american public. as y all ou recall the u.s. con and the public were not notified until four days after he was admitted to walter reed. this process is going to help ensure that all relevant parties are notified when the secretary of defense is otherwise indisposed. importantly, this memo makes no mention of the fact that the pentagon did not also notify the white house of the secretary s december 22nd elective medical procedure that he underwent at walter reed, and that was a one-night hospital stay that also involved the transfer of his authorities to his deputy secretary, kathleen hicks. and so the memo asks the pentagon s general counsel as well as other senior officials to examine the events stemming
Nothing. no idea at all. we know he went in for an elective procedure on december 22nd. the only detail is that it required an overnight stay. w released from the hospital on december 23rd. ten days later, on new year s day, january 1st, he started experiencing some extreme pain. that s all we know is extreme pain. it was severe enough that he was taken to the hospital via ambulance that afternoon. we don t know any more than he was conscious in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. at some point over the next 24 hours or so, his condition worsened to the point where he felt it was necessary to transferis responsibilities and some of his authorities to his deputy secretary of defense. she was notified on january 2nd that she was assuming some of the responsibilities while on vacation in puerto rico. critically here, she was not told why she was assuming those authorities or thate had been hospitized. as you said, was in the intensive care unit untilwo
Screening he has undergone regular prostate pathogen surveillance. changes in his laboratory evaluation are early december 2023 identified prostate cancer, which required treatment. on december 22nd, 2023 after consultation with his medical team, he was admitted to walter reed national military medical center and underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure called a to treat and cure prostate cancer. he was under general anesthesia during this procedure. secretary austin recovered uneventfully from his surgery and returned home the next morning. his prostate cancer was detected early and his prognosis is excellent. january 1st, 2024 secretary austin was admitted to walter reed national medical center with complications from the december 22nd procedure. that included and nausea with severe abdominal, hip and leg pain.
Notified that the secretary was diagnosed with prostate cancer? i would have to refer you to the white house. i just don t, natasha. reporter: the memo that was drafted by austin s chief of staff that lays out the 30 day review that is going to be done, it does not mention the initial december 22nd hospital stay. as the pentagon determined that all appropriate notification procedures in that instance were followed, despite the deputy secretary and the white house not being notified that he was undergoing surgery, which we now know he was under general anesthesia for? yeah, i think that the information that we gather and the lessons that we have learned from the period from last week will be applicable across the board. right? so it would similarly apply to the situation on december 22nd. the bottom line is ensuring if there is a transfer authority, making sure that the appropriate senior leaders in the chain of command no, and that importantly, there is a rational to be able to p
Notification timelines, as well as the transparency issues that we have highlighted. so i really think this review is going to help us make in a holistic way so that we can learn from it, but also ensure that we are doing better next time. so i think we really need to allow this review to run its course in order to do that. in the meantime, we taken immediate steps as i highlighted at the top. reporter: with that have been under a procedure for the sme to notify the white house national security adviser? again, certainly, you know, we want to make sure that the notifications are happening in a timely way, and we acknowledged there was shortfalls. so in sport and we go back and look at what the shortfalls were, what could have been done better, and make sure that going forward we are improving the processes. again, this review will help us. reporter: do you still think it s appropriate to call his medical procedure on december 22nd and elective medical procedure if it was treati
White house. natasha. thank you. the memo directed by austin s chief of staff that lays out the 30-day review, it doesn t mention the initial december 22nd hospital stay. has the pentagon determined in that instance all appropriate procedures were followed despite the white house not being notified he was undergoing surgery which we know he was under general anesthesia for? i think that the information we gather and the lessons we learned from that period would be applicable would similarly apply to the situation on december 22nd. the bottom line is ensuring if there s a transfer of authority, making sure the chain of command knows and that importantly, there s a rationale to be able to provide some perspective in terms of why these transfers of
We thank you for your time today, sir, and that is a live shot of the pentagon, the briefing is about to begin. we will go to that likely, this could come up as well as the condition of the defense secretary. general keane, thank you. take care, sandra, thank you. john: back to the issue of the defense secretary when we got this release from walter reed medical center, said is there a doctor in the house, it was dr. makary here with us. i don t understand the secrecy, prostectomy. the initial report was chief of staff was sick, the flu around new year s day, turns out he had elective surgery a week and a half prior on december 22nd, and relatively routine, common surgery. he s 70 years old, he s got