The medical mystery has been solved, but the political headache continues for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Biden administration.
After days of stonewalling and controversy, medical officials revealed Tuesday that Mr. Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer late last year and underwent surgery on Dec. 22. Without initially informing top aides, the White House or Congress, the Pentagon chief has spent the past week in the hospital battling an infection and other complications that emerged in the wake of the operation.
Stunningly, the White House revealed that President Biden was only learning of Mr. Austin’s original cancer diagnosis Tuesday, along with the rest of the world.
The Pentagon’s handling of the crisis was “not optimal,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told an afternoon White House press briefing.
The defense secretary is sixth in the line of presidential succession, and the spectacle has provided a juicy line of attack for congressional Republicans, who said Mr. Austin’s unexcused absence disappearance was a threat to national security.
The disclosures Tuesday from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center offered the first concrete details about a mysterious hospital stay that has ignited a furor on Capitol Hill, sparked an internal Biden administration review, and raised serious questions about chain-of-command procedures atop the Defense Department.
SEE ALSO: Biden found out about Austin’s prostate cancer same day public was told
Mr. Austin has acknowledged he mishandled the episode while his aides have been in full damage-control mode. Mr. Kirby said the president plans to stick with the 70-year-old Pentagon chief, a former Army general, and would not accept his resignation if offered.
The Defense Department “recognizes the understandable concerns expressed by the public, Congress, and in the news media in terms of notification timelines and DoD transparency,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday. “Secretary Austin has taken responsibility for the issues with transparency, and the department is taking immediate steps to improve our notification procedures.”
At the White House, Chief of Staff Jeff Zients issued the review of agency protocols to all Cabinet secretaries to be completed by Jan. 12, according to a memo viewed by The Washington Times. The review will include examining the steps for delegating authority, applications for those delegations and procedures for notifying the White House.
Despite his assurances of greater candor in the future, it remains unclear why the notoriously press-shy Mr. Austin chose to withhold information about his prostate cancer diagnosis from the majority of his staff in the Pentagon as well as the White House, which only learned about it on Jan. 9. At one point last week, Pentagon No. 2 Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks was serving as acting defense secretary without knowing the real reason Mr. Austin was indisposed.
“Prostate cancer and the associated procedures are obviously deeply personal,” Gen. Ryder told reporters at the Pentagon. “We’ll continue to work hard to make sure that we’re being as transparent as possible moving forward.”
Mr. Austin’s doctors at Walter Reed said he was admitted to the hospital Dec. 22 and underwent a “minimally invasive surgical procedure” called a prostatectomy. The real trouble began on Jan. 1, he was rushed back to the hospital by ambulance after suffering intense pain brought on by complications from the procedure.
“His infection has cleared. He continues to make progress and we anticipate a full recovery although this can be a slow process,” Dr. John Maddox and Dr. Gregory Chesnut said Tuesday in their statement. “During his stay, Secretary Austin never lost consciousness and never underwent general anesthesia.”
Senior lawmakers from both parties have bluntly questioned the Pentagon chief’s handling of the incident, which some said could have had severe national security consequences.
Mississippi Sen. Roger F. Wicker, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was glad Mr. Austin was recovering, but serious underlying questions remain.
“The failure to notify Congress of his inability to perform his duties was a clear violation of the law,” said Mr. Wicker on Tuesday. “It remains unclear who decided to ignore federal law but there must be accountability.”
On Monday, the Defense Department’s general counsel and director of administration and management launched an internal 30-day review into the procedures used to transfer authority from the secretary of defense to a subordinate in the event of a situation like Mr. Austin’s hospital stay.
“This review is going to help us get to the ground truth in a holistic way so that we can learn from it [and] ensure that we’ll do better next time,” Gen. Ryder said. “We really need to allow this review to run its course in order to do that.”
Kelly E. Magsamen, Mr. Austin’s chief of staff, was among a small group of people at the Pentagon who learned that her boss was in the intensive care unit at Walter Reed but officials said she didn’t pass on the information for two days because she came down with the flu.
While an internal Defense Department review — ordered by Ms. Magsamen — is ongoing, Mr. Wicker said more must be done given the gravity of the situation.
“An internal review — ordered by the same chief of staff who played a part in this crisis — is woefully inadequate,” he said.
• Jeff Mordock contributed to this report.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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