US Defense Secretary Lioyd Austin kept cancer diagnosis from White House
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, has recently been hospitalized twice due to prostate cancer.
His treating physicians stated that his cancer had been diagnosed in its early stages.
Lloyd Austin had faced criticism for keeping his health condition hidden and his hospitalization from the President of the United States and senior defense officials, especially given the tense regional situation. Under pressure, the Pentagon finally released details about Mr. Austin’s condition after three days, on Tuesday.
On December 22, 70-year-old Austin was admitted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington for surgery to address his prostate cancer. A week later, doctors revealed that he had developed an infection. Surprisingly, senior administration and defense officials were not informed about his hospitalization or cancer diagnosis for several days.
Since January 1, he has been in the hospital, and the Pentagon did not reveal this information to the public, the White House, or Congress for most of last week, leading to significant political criticism.
Surprisingly, it was revealed on Tuesday that even Kathleen Hicks, Austin’s deputy defense secretary, was not informed for several days about his health condition. This was despite her being asked to assume some of his duties on January 2 while she was on vacation in Puerto Rico. Furthermore, Austin had spoken with the US president on Saturday, raising questions about why Biden only learned about his defense secretary’s prostate cancer diagnosis on Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Defense stated that his urinary tract infection has been resolved, and a full recovery is expected.
The U.S. Secretary of Defense apologized for not disclosing his illness, and the White House also stated that President Biden has no intention of firing him.
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