LaLota Demands Answers on Secretary Austin’s Disappearance

WASHINGTON, D.C. - This week, Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Suffolk County), a Navy Veteran and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, joined all Republican members of the Armed Services Committee in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense (SecDef) Lloyd Austin demanding an immediate response to the formal inquiry launched by the Committee following the SecDef’s disappearance and the Pentagon’s failure to inform the White House and Congress of the status of his health.

“I wish Secretary Austin a speedy recovery following his surgery and cancer diagnosis but the American people and our soldiers deserve to know why his hospitalization was hidden from the President, Cabinet, and Congress. It is incredibly troubling that the White House thought it was normal, with wars raging in Ukraine and Israel, for the President and SecDef to not speak for an entire week,” said LaLota. “I accept the Secretary’s apology but demand to know what made someone who is so well-versed in the requirements to communicate up and down the chain of command fail to do so. The American people deserve much better than the lack of transparency displayed by the White House and the Pentagon.”

To read the full letter, click HERE.

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