Pressure Builds on Pentagon to Explain Timeline of Austin’s Hospitalization

The Pentagon came under increased pressure Sunday to explain why senior Biden administration officials, congressional representatives and the president himself were not notified of the hospitalization of Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III until days later.

Former Vice President Mike Pence called Mr. Austin’s delay in disclosing his hospitalization a “dereliction of duty.” Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Mr. Pence said that the “handling of this by the secretary of defense is totally unacceptable.”

He said that Americans “have a right to know about his medical condition, about the reasons for it.”

Representatives Mike D. Rogers of Alabama and Adam Smith of Washington, the top Republican and Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement on Sunday that they were “concerned with how the disclosure of the secretary’s condition was handled.”