Defense Secretary Austin Returns After Deadly Attack in Jordan. How Is This Not Considered a Failure?

The saga surrounding Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's hospitalization after complications from prostate cancer surgery in December has perhaps come to a close. In mid-January, my colleague Streiff reported:

Two weeks after an ambulance ride and admission to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center's intensive care unit, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has been released. He will be "working from home" as he recovers. There is no prognosis on when he will return to the office.

Austin's malfeasance caused a massive mess and was a frightening failure across the board by the very people in charge of our national security apparatus. This pretense of leadership went on for two more weeks and resulted in a major policy change enacted for White House executive staff. On Monday, SecDef Austin returned to the Pentagon to resume his duties. The Defense Department bothered to inform the White House and the public ahead of time.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was back in the office Monday, exactly four weeks after he was rushed to the hospital with complications from prostate cancer surgery that he kept from his colleagues – and President Biden – for days.
The Defense Department released a short statement announcing Austin’s return, noting the 70-year-old had been working from home since his release from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Jan. 15.
Austin’s return to the five-sided building coincided with a visit to the Pentagon by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who met with Austin and other senior defense officials to discuss the alliance’s ongoing support to Ukraine and other global security matters.
“At this important time, I’m glad to be back at the Pentagon,” Austin said at the opening of his meeting with Stoltenberg Monday. “I feel good and am recovering well, but I’m still recovering.”

Austin admits it's an "important time," and is "still recovering." Then he shouldn't be on the job—not THIS job.

READ: White House Says SecDef Austin's Job Is Not in Danger and That's a Problem

Austin's work does not involve punching divots or paper pushing: he is tasked with overseeing the safety of the United States military at home and abroad. After Sunday's attack in Jordan where three American soldiers were killed in action, he failed at his job and it cost two fighting men and one fighting woman their lives. Had Austin properly handed over the reins in December to a deputy who was present and not on vacation in Puerto Rico, not to mention properly followed the chain of command by informing his superior that he would be undergoing a life-threatening procedure, the watchman who should have been on the wall might have foreseen and dealt with the Iran drone attack before it happened.

Hindsight is 20-20, but Defense Secretaries and Joint Chiefs are not appointed for their hindsight, but their foresight. Austin made a pretense of foresight back in October 2023, when he claimed he was strengthening the United States' defense posture in the Middle East.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Sunday the US is “concerned about potential escalation” in the Middle East a day after announcing the deployment of additional military assets to the region.
“We’re concerned about potential escalation. In fact, what we’re seeing is a – is a prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region, and because of that, we’re going to do what’s necessary to make sure that our troops are in the right – in a good position, and they’re protected, and that we have the ability to respond,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

These words now ring hollow as the bodies of Sgt. William Rivers, Specialist Kennedy Sanders, and Specialist Breonna Moffett return to Georgia in coffins draped with the American flag.