As of Tuesday, January 16, 2024, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has been either hospitalized or "working from home" for the entire year, despite the increasing hostilities in the Middle East. According to aides and White House spokespeople, Austin has approved and overseen numerous military operations during that time from wherever he's been, without skipping a beat, and without any type of secure comms compromise, just as if he was in his office at the Pentagon, with all of the advanced technology available there. For the first five days or so of Austin's stay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, nobody outside of Austin's immediate circle of aides -- well, in the United States government, at least -- even knew that anything unusual was happening or that Austin was actually in the intensive care unit.

Once it was learned that Austin had been taken by ambulance from his residence to Walter Reed on New Year's Day, folks on the conservative side of the aisle wondered how all of this could have happened without somebody in Washington - usually a very gossipy town, especially when it comes to administration officials - mentioning something to a reporter. How could an ambulance roll up to the Secretary of Defense's home and whisk him away without a single person noticing? (The location of his home isn't secret; PETA activists, among others, have protested outside his home in the past.)

Well, now we know that Austin's aides did everything they could to make sure news of their boss's condition and location went unnoticed. The Daily Beast obtained a recording of the 911 call through a FOIA request to the State of Virginia, which revealed that Austin's staff asked that the ambulance show up without lights and sirens because "we're trying to remain a little subtle."

“Can I ask—can the ambulance not show up with lights and sirens? Uhm, we’re trying to remain a little subtle,” the aide said...

The dispatcher responded that the ambulance could do that, noting that “usually when they turn into a residential neighborhood, they'll turn them off.” She added that the ambulance is required by law to run the sirens and lights on main streets, such as Georgetown Pike and Leesburg Pike.

The Daily Beast said that it's not clear on the recording whether the aide was told to make that request or was instructed by another member of Austin's staff.

The audio of the 911 call also reveals some new information about the Secretary of Defense’s medical condition at the time.

The Secretary of Defense was not reporting any chest pain at the time, the aide said on the call. He also confirmed that Austin has not passed out and did not feel like he was going to pass out. When asked, the aide confirmed the Defense Secretary was alert and not confused.

If that's all true, given the transportation options Austin had access to, why did he need to wait for an ambulance instead of having his staff immediately take him to Walter Reed? Especially if they were concerned about remaining subtle? According to a 2021 Task and Purpose article (along with a little help from Google image search), Austin's residence is just off Leesburg Pike, near Reston Parkway. That is a bit of a drive to Walter Reed in Bethesda, but undoubtedly his official vehicles could get through it much faster than a civilian could.

More from The Daily Beast:

The identity of the caller has been redacted to protect personal information, according to the Fairfax County Department of Public Safety Communications. The department redacted other personal and health information from the call as well.

Austin’s name and title are redacted on the call, but based on the timing and location—the secretary of defense’s residence—the call can reasonably be assessed to be about his complications.

Austin was released Monday from Walter Reed, and his staff claim he has full access to needed secure communications capabilities to be able to perform his duties remotely while he continues to recuperate from complications of prostate cancer surgery. Since nobody's heard directly from Austin, we'll have to take his staff's word for it, whatever that's worth.