US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has prostate cancer, doctors reveal amid hospital row
They said his prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent.
The announcement of the cancer came after days of questions about why Austin had been hospitalised and why US President Joe Biden and other top officials had not been told about his hospitalisation for days. Several Republican lawmakers even said Austin should be ousted.
Earlier on Tuesday, with the controversy continuing, the White House chief of staff ordered Cabinet members or secretaries to notify his office if they ever cannot perform their duties. Meanwhile, the Biden administration, reeling from learning of Austin’s surprise illness last week, is mounting a policy review.
Jeff Zients, in a memo to cabinet secretaries, directed that they send the White House any existing procedures for delegating authority in the event of incapacitation or loss of communication by Friday.
While the review is ongoing, he is requiring agencies to notify his office and the office of cabinet affairs at the White House if an agency experiences or plans to experience a circumstance in which a cabinet head cannot perform his or her duties.
Why was US defence chief’s hospital stay kept secret for days?
Biden and other top officials were not informed for days that Austin had been hospitalised and had turned over power to his deputy. A Pentagon spokesman blamed the lapse on a key staff member being out sick with the flu.
“Agencies should ensure that delegations are issued when a cabinet member is travelling to areas with limited or no access to communication, undergoing hospitalisation or a medical procedure requiring general anaesthesia, or otherwise in a circumstance when he or she may be unreachable,” Zients’ memo states.
It also requires that agencies document when any such transfer of authorities occurs and that the person serving in the acting role promptly establish contact with relevant White House staff. A copy of the memo was obtained by Associated Press.
Austin, 70, went to the hospital on December 22 for what the Pentagon press secretary called an “elective procedure” but one serious enough that Austin temporarily transferred some of his authorities to his deputy, without telling her or other US leaders why. He went home the following day.
He also transferred some of his authorities to Deputy Defence Secretary Kathleen Hicks after experiencing severe pain and being taken back to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre by ambulance and put into intensive care on January 1 – though Hicks was not told the reason for three days.
The White House was not informed Austin was in hospital until January 4, and the public and Congress didn’t learn of it until a day later.
The Pentagon has announced its own internal review and in a memo issued on Monday broadened the circle of leaders who would be informed of any delegation of authorities by the defence secretary to ensure that, in the future, “proper and timely notification has been made to the president and White House and, as appropriate, the United States Congress and the American public.”
Going forward, any time authority is transferred a wider swathe of officials will also be notified, to include the Pentagon’s general counsel, the chair and vice-chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Combatant Commanders, service secretaries, the service chiefs of staff, the White House Situation Room, and the senior staff of the secretary and deputy secretary of defence.