Pentagon Spox: Sec. Austin ‘Has Been Actively Engaged in Overseeing and Directing the Strikes We Saw Last Night’

IGNATIUS: “So, I want to ask General Ryder a particular question that’s on all of our minds. the Pentagon announced that Secretary of Defense Austin made the final approval for these strikes from his hospital bed at Walter Reed. I want to ask, first, how soon the secretary of defense will be back at the Pentagon in his office, and whether you can share with us any early lessons learned for you personally or for the Department of Defense from the episode we’ve been through and the questions of notification about his illness.”
RYDER: “Yeah, so, first of all, the secretary is recovering well. We don’t have a date yet in terms of when he’ll be released from the hospital. Of course, we’ll keep folks updated. But he’s been actively engaged in overseeing and directing the strikes that we saw last night. On Tuesday, when the Houthis were conducting their complex attack, he was participating in a meeting with the chairman and the CENTCOM commander to monitor that activity, spoke with the president twice over the last 72 hours, as well as conducting multiple calls each day with the CENTCOM commander, the chairman, as well as the national security adviser. And as you highlight, he gave the order yesterday afternoon to conduct these strikes. In terms of what we’ve learned, you know, the secretary has taken full responsibility on the need of the department to do better when it comes to transparency. We are committed to abiding by the DOD principles of information, which is ensuring that the American public, that the Congress, and that the news media have timely and accurate information about the business and the operations of the Department of Defense. Going forward, we are recommitted to that and we are confident that we will continue to work hard to earn the trust of the American people.”