Lloyd Austin: Biden backs US defence secretary after secretive hospital stay

The Pentagon says Lloyd Austin has resumed his full duties but he is believed to still be in hospital

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will not be fired despite his failure last week to disclose he had been admitted to hospital, says the White House.

"There is no plan for anything other than for Secretary Austin to stay in the job," White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Mr Austin, 70, remained in hospital as of Monday morning, Mr Kirby added.

It emerged on Sunday that it took three days for Mr Biden to learn of the defence secretary's hospital stay.

The defence secretary sits just below the president in the chain of command for the US military and must be available at all times to respond to any national security emergency.

The Pentagon's failure to disclose Mr Austin's illness has drawn criticism.

Leading Republicans, including Donald Trump, have called for Mr Austin to be fired. Senior Democrats have expressed alarm over the failure to disclose the hospital stays.

On Monday, Mr Kirby said the White House would look into what happened.

"We'll do what's akin to a hot wash and try to see if processes and procedures need to be changed at all or modified so that we can learn from this," Mr Kirby said.

"The president's number one focus is on his [Mr Austin's] health and recovery, and he's looking forward to having him back at the Pentagon as soon as possible," he said.

On Sunday, a Pentagon spokesman revealed that Mr Austin had undergone an elective medical procedure on 22 December and returned home the next day. The medical issue has not been disclosed.

But he began experiencing "severe pain" on the evening of 1 January and was admitted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington DC, Air Force Maj Gen Pat Ryder said.

Mr Ryder added that the defence secretary was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and he "remained in that location in part due to hospital space considerations and privacy".

Even as he assumed his full duties on Friday, Mr Austin remained in hospital, but no longer in the ICU.

In a statement on Saturday, the retired four-star general said: "I recognise I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better."

The United States has a civilian-controlled military, and the armed forces need to know who is in charge at any one time.

Officials told CNN that Kathleen Hicks, the Pentagon's second-in-command, began assuming some of her boss's responsibilities last Monday, New Year's Day, while she was on holiday in Puerto Rico.

But she was not informed until 4 January that Mr Austin was in intensive care, US media reported. The White House only learned last Thursday, too, that Mr Austin was in hospital.

No-one within the chain of command was notified earlier because Mr Austin's chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, was off sick with flu, according to defence officials.

Gen Ryder told CNN the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff had been notified on Tuesday.

Gen CQ Brown, however, is a subordinate adviser who does not fall in the chain of command.

Military service secretaries were not notified until Friday, Mr Ryder conceded.

Pressure will now grow on the secretary of defence to disclose more about his health problems.

It comes amid the US's deep involvement in two current theatres of conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine.