Austin’s absence blamed on lack of policy

GEN Austin’s office is explaining his absence just after New Year’s.

A mixture of concerns about protecting Austin’s privacy — and a lack of written policy for emergency hospitalizations — caused staff to balk when it came to informing the White House or Congress of the secretary’s absence, while at the same time not informing the deputy defense secretary of why she was taking over authorities, according to an executive summary of the largely classified review released Monday.

What was unprecedented was that following Austin’s ambulance ride on Jan. 1, it took his staff until Jan. 4 to notify the White House and Congress of his absence, and until the following day to put out a public statement.

Seems to me OCS (and maybe even basic training) mentioned “If you are physically unable to do your job, inform your superiors. Inform your immediate subordinate to take over.” Or words to that effect. You do that immediately so the CoC is still effective, you do that so there is no reduction in capability – I mean, this is discussed when they ain’t even lieutenants yet, when they are still candidates. I’m reasonably sure budding ensigns and Forceketeerleutnants hear the same thing (sorry, I’m a bit unclear on the Space Force rank structure.) Ya just do it, every time, promptly. Do not pass Go, you do it now.

Austin has taken the blame for the situation overall, saying that he did not want to “burden” the president with his early December cancer diagnosis, he told reporters during a Feb. 13 briefing.

Austin said at the time that he did not direct his staff to withhold any information from the chain of command, adding that he doesn’t believe that he has created a culture of secrecy that would have conditioned his staff to hide information on his behalf.

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck… it’s an effen duck.

The review found that concerns over “medical privacy laws” precluded staff from sharing what they knew or asking for more information.

His non-medical staff were worried about HIPAA violations? Really?

The review released Monday includes eight recommendations to improve the notification process when a defense secretary is incapacitated, including articulating to staff the expectations for information-sharing and writing down guidelines for how to handle such events. There will also be new protocols for determining when authorities should be transferred to a deputy defense secretary and how to notify authorities about it. Military Times

Barn. Horse, stolen, one each. Lock.  They just now are addressing “what happens if someone gets sick?”

Best recommendation would be a bit of housecleaning…there is some seriously flawed decision-making going on with the present group.

HIPAA?

 

 

Category: Government Incompetence, Veterans in politics