WASHINGTON — A 911 caller seeking an ambulance for Lloyd Austin on Jan. 1 asked the dispatcher to have first responders arrive on the scene in a discreet manner before transporting the defense secretary to a military hospital.
“Can the ambulance not show up with lights and sirens? We’re trying to remain a little subtle,” said the caller, whose identity was redacted, according to an audio recording obtained by NBC News through a Virginia Freedom of Information request. The ambulance was dispatched to a single family home on Austin’s street.
Details of the Fairfax County Department of Public Safety Communications’ 911 audio file were first reported by The Daily Beast.
Austin was hospitalized on New Year’s Day with complications resulting from prostate cancer treatment, but the Pentagon waited three days to inform the White House. Austin, who lives in Virginia, was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland on Monday, though he’ll be working from home as he recuperates, according to a statement he issued this week.
The 911 recording partially redacted information about Austin’s medical condition as well as the defense secretary’s primary complaint. The recording includes a series of unredacted answers to questions from the dispatcher about the defense secretary’s condition.
Austin did not have chest pain, and he did feel like he was going to pass out, according to the caller’s answers. The caller also said that Austin was alert and had not vomited blood or had blood in his stool. One of the dispatcher’s questions was redacted.
The caller also asked if it was possible for the ambulance to take Austin to Walter Reed in Bethesda. The dispatcher asked the caller to let the medics know that when they arrived.
Austin faced harsh criticism for not immediately notifying the White House about his hospitalization. He later said he took full responsibility and “could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed.”
“I commit to doing better,” he added in his Jan. 6 statement.
The Pentagon’s inspector general has initiated a review of the matter and the Republican-led House Armed Services Committee has opened a formal investigation.
Caryn Littler contributed.
