By Mary Kay Mallonee and Shania Shelton, CNN
(CNN) — The House Armed Services Committee has asked Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to testify before the panel to explain his failure to notify key government leaders, including the president, of his recent hospitalization.
Rep. Mike Rogers, chair of the Republican-led panel, sent a letter to Austin on Thursday requesting he testify in person during a full committee hearing on February 14.
“The Committee expects to hear your direct testimony regarding decisions made to withhold information from the President, Congress, and the American people,” Rogers wrote.
“Congress must understand what happened and who made decisions to prevent the disclosure of the whereabouts of a cabinet secretary,” the letter stated.
Austin and the Pentagon have been under intense scrutiny for a lack of forthrightness after they failed to notify the White House or Congress that the secretary was hospitalized on New Year’s Day for complications from a prostate cancer procedure in December.
The request from Congress follows Austin’s release from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday, two weeks after he was admitted. The Pentagon said in a statement that Austin will work remotely “for a period of time” before returning to the Pentagon and has “full access” to secure communications capabilities.
New revelations about the day of the hospitalization brought to light the aide who called 911 requesting an ambulance to Austin’s house on New Year’s Day asked that the ambulance be discreet and “not show up with lights and sirens” due to a desire by Austin’s camp to be “subtle.”
The undisclosed hospitalization has faced criticism from President Joe Biden and several members of Congress, and has prompted a review by the Pentagon’s inspector general into the matter.
The letter from the House Armed Services Committee is the latest in questioning toward Austin and his team about the initial lack of transparency related to his health. Three separate reviews from the White House, the Pentagon and the Pentagon’s inspector general to examine the notification process and whether policies need to be changed, has been initiated since the news came out of the hospitalization.
While Austin was admitted to the hospital on January 1 — and the intensive care unit on January 2 — the public did not know about his health complications until January 5. It was later discovered that the White House, including Biden, had not been notified until January 4. Congress was not notified until January 5.
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