The Scoop: Why the DoD says it didn’t inform the White House of secretary’s hospitalization for days

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized first for surgery to treat prostate cancer, then later for a serious urinary tract infection. These both left him unable to perform his duties, and responsibilities were passed to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks.

This all sounds like prosaic, run-of-the-mill stuff. Vice President Kamala Harris took over the presidential powers while Joe Biden underwent a root canal last year, for instance.

The difference is that Austin and the Department of Defense did not inform the White House, Hicks or the American people about this change. For days.

The AP reported that the Pentagon blamed this massive communications failure on a single key staffer who was out with the flu while all this was going on.

Now, the president is requiring that cabinet departments inform the White House if a secretary is unable to perform his or her duties – a rule that probably never existed because it seems like such incredible common sense.

Why it matters: We’re talking about the Department of Defense here, the entity that controls the most powerful military in the world. There are valid reasons that they may not always be able to be perfectly transparent with the public. But the president – a.k.a., the secretary of defense’s boss – should always know if he’s in intensive care.

If it is indeed true that one employee’s sickness led to a failure to inform anyone of Austin’s illness, it points out a systematic failure in their communications plan. There should always be redundancies and someone doublechecking reporting protocol to ensure everything is being executed according to plan – something one would hope the Department of Defense would understand.

Whatever the true cause of this massive communications failure, it’s a good time to ensure that you’ve got backup plans in place for your own crisis communications efforts. To draw a more relatable parallel, if you have one person in charge of reporting to the CEO, ensure you have a designated No. 2 in case the first person is unable to discharge their duties. And if it’s really important, maybe tell the CEO again, just to make sure.

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• PepsiCo and grocery chain Carrefour are bickering about which one dumped the other. The Wall Street Journal reports that Carrefour initially announced that it would stop selling PepsiCo products, including brands like Lay’s and Quaker Oats, due to high prices. But now Pepsi is claiming that they broke up with Carrefour. In a statement provided to the Wall Street Journal, a spokesperson said: “Regrettably, Carrefour has mischaracterized the chain of events. Given the lack of agreement on a new contract, we stopped supplying to Carrefour at the end of the year, something they were aware could happen. We hope we can agree on terms soon so our products can be back on their shelves for consumers to enjoy.” Carrefour responded with a flat, “We, at the Carrefour Group, have taken this decision.” Whatever the truth, Carrefour struck first, and their version of events is likely to be the one that sticks – an important thing to remember in PR.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.