Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee demanded a formal briefing from Department of Defense officials on the circumstances surrounding Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s unexplained absence in a letter sent Wednesday.
Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the panel, led 11 of his GOP colleagues in requiring a briefing from all relevant Pentagon officials by Jan. 19 to answer for Austin’s failure to disclose his hospitalization from Jan. 1 to late afternoon on Jan. 5, according to the letter. Wicker called Austin’s behavior “an intolerable breach of trust with the American people at a dangerous moment for U.S. national security.”
“Our branches of government share a sacred obligation to work together to keep the American people safe. We cannot do this without clear and open communication,” Wicker wrote in the…
