White House rejects calls for US defence chief to go

Lloyd Austin criticised for not disclosing his multiday hospitalisation to the president and public for several days.

US President Joe Biden does not plan to fire Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over his failure to disclose for days that he has been hospitalised, the White House says, despite calls from Republicans for the removal of the Pentagon chief.

Austin, 70, sits just below Biden, a Democrat, in the chain of command of the US military. He remains in hospital, which he entered on New Year’s Day.

“There is no plan for anything other than for Secretary Austin to stay in the job and continue the leadership that has been exhibited,” John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, told reporters on Air Force One on Monday.

“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,” Kirby said.

Austin has been criticised for failing to immediately tell the president and the public about his hospitalisation during a war in the Gaza Strip and fears that the conflict could spread in the Middle East.