'It's dereliction of duty': Wardynski on Sec. Austin's hospitalization secrecy

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III is facing intense scrutiny over his failure to disclose an extensive hospitalization and incapacitation.

Thursday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” Dr. Casey Wardynski, who served as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs under President Trump, said the situation is gravely concerning.

“If you cannot participate in nuclear command and control, which is an essential function, that’s a huge gap in the chain of command that couldn’t be filled,” Wardynski said. “And you’ve got the Deputy [Secretary of Defense] off in I think was Puerto Rico on vacation who didn’t even know he was incapacitated. So clearly there was no delegation of authority, and that’s just a big deal and it’s dereliction of duty.”

Wardyski believes this is just the latest example of incompetence from the Biden administration.

“Frankly that all flows from the way elected leaders behave,” he argued. “We probably have an incapacity of the President for months if not years now. We have a 25th Amendment to deal with that, but clearly we’ve got a failed government running our country. And my guess is with the [Secretary of Defense] and you look at that, I don’t know why he would tell [Biden] anyway, because there’s nobody home over there.”

He said this was not how things operated in the Trump administration.

“They knew where I was all the time,” he explained, “and I was probably 42nd in line to be Secretary of Defense if something happened in Washington…These people know where the [Secretary of Defense] is all the time, they know where the Deputy [Secretary of Defense] is all the time, they know where the President is all the time…maybe the White House has inculcated a culture where it’s just not that important to hear from Austin on a daily basis or know where the hell he is.”

Wardynski said he’s not sure if Austin will eventually have to resign over the situation.

“If they get rid of Austin, they’re probably not going to get a new Secretary of Defense,” he said. “I think he’s terrible, but they’d probably find somebody worse. I think it really is a reflection on the President, and Austin could be the guy who catches the bullet, but this all goes back to the guy who the hell is running this country. I’m not sure who it is. Notionally it’s Biden, and he’s built a government where this is not abnormal.”

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee