It took the Pentagon 32 days to inform the White House that Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalised on New Year's Day after complications from an elective procedure, two United States officials said on Jan 6.
The extraordinary breach of protocol he is in charge of the country's 1.4 million active-duty military at a time when the wars in Gaza and Ukraine have dominated the American national security landscape has baffled officials across the government, including at the Pentagon.
Senior defence officials said Mr Austin did not inform them until Jan 4 that he had been admitted to the intensive care unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland.
The Pentagon then informed the White House.
The Pentagon's move, first reported by Politico, confounded White House officials, a Biden administration employee said.
Mr Austin sits just below US President Joe Biden at the top of the chain of command of the US military, and his duties require his being available at a moment's notice to respond to any manner of national security crisis.
The Pentagon has yet to detail why he is being treated, whether he lost consciousness over the past week, or offer details on when he might be discharged from the hospital.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council declined to comment on Jan 6.
On the night of Jan 6, Mr Austin issued a mea culpa.
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