Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General C. Q. Brown was informed the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was hospitalized Tuesday but agreed to maintain the charade that Austin was working at home. Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico, was asked to assume some of Austin's duties, but she didn't know he was in the hospital until Thursday.

I'd thought my duty to write about this fiasco had come to an end with my last update, but I was wrong.

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

Friday night, it was reported that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had not informed National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that he was in the ICU at Walter Reed National Medical Center due to "complications" from a yet undefined "elective medical procedure." It fell to Sullivan to inform Biden that his secretary of Defense had been AWOL for four days while the SedDef's staff lied that Austin was hiking the Appalachian Trail working from home.

This newest update sheds some additional light on this colossal clusterf**k. 

BACKGROUND:

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Has Been Hospitalized for a Week and Just Told Congress Today

UPDATE: Congress Not Told SecDef Austin Was in the ICU and His Deputy on Vacation for the Last Week

NEW UPDATED UPDATE: SecDef Austin Did Not Tell Biden's National Security Adviser He Was in the ICU

The Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman was notified sometime on Tuesday that Austin was hospitalized. 

Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown was not informed of Austin’s situation until Tuesday, the day after his hospitalization, a senior Defense Department official told POLITICO on Sunday.

We don't know if General Brown knew the severity of Austin's condition. I can't imagine him getting the phone call telling him Austin was in the hospital without asking what was wrong. Due to the total lack of integrity in Austin's immediate office, we can't be sure what Brown knew. What we do know is that he seems to have been sworn to secrecy. He didn't tell Biden or Sullivan. I would contend that as under federal law, Brown is designated as the top military adviser to the president, he had a legal, moral, and ethical obligation to inform the White House that the chain of command, including the ability to respond to a nuclear attack, had been broken. The service chiefs were only informed two hours before the public announcement on Friday. That's late, but better than the treatment meted out to Congress, which was notified 15 minutes before the world.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks was out of the loop. She was told on Thursday that he was hospitalized. Again, we can assume she asked what was wrong and probably asked, "When did this happen?" but we don't know what she was told.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, the Pentagon’s number two leader, was among the senior leaders kept in the dark about Austin’s true whereabouts until Thursday, three days after the secretary checked into Walter Reed medical center following complications from an elective surgery. Not even the president was aware of Austin’s hospitalization until three days into his stay there, CNN previously reported.

...

But Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time, was not informed of Austin’s hospitalization until the afternoon of January 4, the defense officials said. Ryder told CNN that it is “not uncommon” for the secretary to transfer certain responsibilities without providing a specific reason as to why such a transfer is needed.

At that point, Hicks began to make contingency plans to return to Washington, DC, on Friday, the official said. But because Austin was expected to return to his full duties—albeit from the hospital—on Friday, she decided to stay in Puerto Rico to ensure continuity of communications.

The transfer of powers implies that Ausitin's immediate office recognized there were actions Austin needed to take and took steps to ensure those happened as a way of furthering the cover-up without telling Hicks why the authority and been delegated to her.

Up until now, the locus of the deception has been Austin's immediate office. He didn't tell the president or the national security adviser. He kept his deputy out of the loop. He lied about his whereabouts. This happened either on Austin's orders or because Austin's personal staff is so devoid of integrity that they were sure that their actions would meet with his approval and he would protect them.

Now, the rings of dishonesty are growing.

On Tuesday, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is informed. USAF General C. Q, Brown didn't tell the service chiefs, he didn't tell his boss, the deputy secretary of Defense, he didn't tell the White House. We need to know what Brown was told and we need to know why he decided that his loyalty to Austin was greater than his statutory duty.

Politico is trying to run interference for Austin by claiming he has an intense need for privacy.

Former and current U.S. officials who have worked with Austin say he is well-known as an introvert, shunning the cameras and keeping only a few close confidantes during his decades-long military career. As the four-star general overseeing U.S. Central Command during the Iraq drawdown, he rarely held press conferences. As defense secretary, in contrast to his predecessors, he takes only a handful of media on official travel. He has not done a press conference in the Pentagon since last July, although he regularly briefs the press during his travels.

This episode has revealed less a desire for privacy than a cult of personality that is quietly arrogating power to Austin's office. The lies, the refusal to follow basic chain-of-command procedures, and the lack of concern about national security and national reputation are inexcusable. If Biden lets this pass, he deserves whatever comes next.