From his hospital room, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin first orchestrated and then watched in real time as the U.S. retaliatory attack on Yemen-based Houthi militants unfolded Thursday night
From his hospital room, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin first orchestrated and then watched in real time as the U.S. retaliatory attack on Yemen-based Houthi militants unfolded Thursday night.
Austin’s hospital-room leadership was the latest in a series of actions the defense chief has carried out from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he has been recovering from complications due to treatments for prostate cancer. Austin only revealed he had prostate cancer on Tuesday — the same day that the Houthis launched their most aggressive onslaught to date of 18 drones and missiles at commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea. That attack that set the stage for Thursday’s military operation.
Austin is now in his 12th day of hospitalization at Walter Reed and the Pentagon does not know what day he will be released.
On Friday, President Joe Biden said it was a lapse in judgment for Austin to keep his hospitalization and prostate cancer diagnosis a secret, but said he still has confidence in the Pentagon chief.
In the days since, Austin has turned his room into a secure communications suite. He’s called top military leaders, talked to the president, considered options and later ordered the strikes, Pentagon press secretary Maj.
