Biden’s Administration stunned by fact that Pentagon head Austin did not report his hospitalization after cancer treatment

The Administration of US President Joe Biden is dissatisfied with the actions of the US Department of Defense, which did not inform the White House about the illness of Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin. The day before, it became known that the US Secretary of Defense was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

This is reported by Politico, NPR and CNN.

Last week, the US Department of Defense issued a brief press release announcing Austin's hospitalization at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Hospitalization is associated with complications after a planned medical procedure. The Pentagon added that Austin is recovering and returning to his duties.

As it became known later, Austin underwent an operation to treat a cancerous tumor on his prostate on December 22, 2023.

According to doctors from the Walter Reed Center, the disease in the head of the Pentagon was detected at an early stage, so the prognosis for treatment and recovery was very positive.

However, already on January 1, 2024, Austin was urgently hospitalized due to complications caused by surgery to treat a tumor on December 22.

According to the American media, the White House and the US Congress were stunned by the lack of information about the hospitalization of the head of the Pentagon.

It turned out that Austin's deputy did not know anything about the situation, and President Joe Biden was only informed about it on January 4.

Against the background of this situation, American officials had questions for the Pentagon. The Secretary of Defense himself also came under criticism.

One of the American officials said that Biden and Austin did not speak for two days after the head of the White House learned about the hospitalization of the secretary.

Later it became known that Biden and Austin did talk and discussed the situation. It happened last Saturday.

According to another unnamed official, the incident involving communication errors between Austin and officials of the US Department of Defense in no way affected Biden's trust in the head of the Pentagon.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on December 30, 2023, the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, had a telephone conversation with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Rustem Umierov.

It is also worth recalling that in November 2023, Austin visited Kyiv, where he took part in discussions on strengthening the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States.