notified of the chain of command. >> reporter: pentagon or knowledge of the chairman of the joint chiefs, austen's staff, and spokesman all-new on januard been hospitalized. but waited for two more days before telling the white house. austin had been at home recovering from an elective medical procedure when he started expressing severe pain and was rushed to walter reed and admitted to the icu. >> you have for all intents and purposes a break in the chain of command. >> reporter: former secretary of former secretary of defense mark esper. speaker of the secretary of defense has been taken to the hospital in an ambulance, it see you'd give somebody the right has a heads up. >> reporter: authority was transferred to the deputy secretary of defense but again, no one told the white house. with austin still in the icu, a u.s. drone carried out a strike approved by the president three days earlier. only then did austin's chief of staff finally notify the white house of his condition. another day went by before