Lawmakers confront Defense Secretary Austin on secret hospital stay [Video]

Under fire for his secret hospital stay last month, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers Thursday that the Defense Department has made changes to improve the notification process if he must transfer decision-making authorities due to illness or lack of communications.Video above: During hearing with Congress Secretary Austin says, ‘There was never any lapse in command…but we did have a breakdown in notifications’He said there were no gaps in control of the department or the nation’s security because “at all times, either I or the deputy secretary was in a position to conduct the duties of my office.”Democrats and Republicans criticized his failure to quickly let President Joe Biden and other senior leaders know about his hospitalization for complications from prostate cancer surgery.“It’s totally unacceptable that it took three days to inform the president of the United States that the secretary of defense was in the hospital and not in …