Very early in serving in uniform in the US Military, one learns a very important ironclad rule of leadership; namely, that you can delegate responsibility but not accountability. When Secretary Lloyd Austin was exposed for having committed the horrendous and dangerous act of going to the hospital in secret, he made a statement indicating that he knows about this leadership principle, although it’s questionable whether he understands it.

Once outed, Austin stated, “But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.” For Democrats, that’s the end of the story. However, it should be the beginning of understanding responsibility and accountability, along with what just really happened when Austin vanished from the scene.

Looking at the whole picture, while we should wish him a safe and full recovery, we should also demand his immediate retirement, followed closely by President Biden’s announcement that he, too, is stepping down. This is because his merely stating that he feels responsible does not absolve Austin from his actions. Additionally, President Biden, as Commander-In-Chief, is 100% accountable for having appointed a Secretary of Defense who secretly abdicated his immediate response abilities in the area of strategic war-fighting.

The SecDef is the second most important decision maker in unleashing our nuclear deterrence triad forces if a launch is ordered after an incoming alert is declared. The President must be capable of unleashing strategic bombers ICBM missiles instantly, 24/7, from both land siloes and at sea in our “boomers.”

Image: Lloyd Austin arrives in the Philippines in July 2021, wearing a face shield and mask. Daily Mail video screen grab.

Fortunately, our nuclear-armed adversaries did not take advantage of the Biden administration’s dereliction of duty. However, the story of such an egregious cover-up should not end with an Inspector General reviewing procedures. Individuals, once having proven they cannot be trusted, should be relieved of command.

To begin the process of accountability, those humans responsible for this dereliction of duty should be immediately answerable to House and Senate investigators, whether in closed or open sessions, with “immediately” being the operative word. The issues involved are far too serious for the normal traditional DC “under investigation” slow role.

For example, it looks as if Walter Reed’s medical staff, the Hospital Commander, and perhaps even the uniformed Army Surgeon General have some serious explaining to do. For one, medically, their post-op infection control procedures very obviously broke down when Austin went in for cancer treatment and ended up almost dying in the ICU for post-operative problems. Surgery is never without risks but, as I was often briefed as the first Assistant Secretary of the VA for Public and Congressional Affairs, the euphuism for a doctor-caused bad outcome is a “surgical misadventure.” Whether that happened with Austin must be investigated.

Equally, though, we shouldn’t overlook that many of the people involved at Walter Reed are officers. This means that they should have understood and are obligated under the hospital’s and military’s leadership directives.

The most important rule of medicine is “first do no harm.” That must apply double to the US Medical Corps because they should also fulfill their obligation in their Commissioning oath to support and defend the Constitution by “first doing no harm” to the American people. Because of their hospital medical bungling, combined with an observing code of “omerta” (or silence), they have put us all at risk. Yes, it is that serious.

And speaking of that “omerta,” how about, General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., the Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was apparently told about Austin’s health but kept the information to himself? Especially since his predecessor, Chairman General Mark Milley, improperly put himself in the response chain of command with a phone call to CHICOM leadership.

General Milley made a similar point in a memo he provided to Congress in September 2021. He noted that he is a part of the “chain of communication,” in his role as the President’s primary military advisor, but he is not in the “chain of command” for authorizing a nuclear launch.

Finally, perhaps adding insult to injury, Gen. Brown also may not have told his senior enlisted advisor what was happening. Having so little regard for keeping them informed is both demonstrably arrogant and flat-out nasty. It is no wonder military recruiting is going to hell.

All in all, this has been a complete and unprecedented debacle; Congress should be immediately involved, demanding answers and full accountability.