WASHINGTON, Jan 10, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - President Joe Biden was kept in the dark
over his defense secretary's cancer diagnosis and subsequent hospitalizations
for about a month, the White House admitted Tuesday, as details of Lloyd
Austin's deeply unusual disappearance raised questions about leadership of
the world's top military.

The 70-year-old's failure to disclose his hospitalization has prompted an
extraordinary row in Washington and could be embarrassing for Biden, who
faces multiple foreign crises in his reelection campaign year, including in
Israel and Ukraine.

As defense secretary, career soldier Austin is personally overseeing military
deployments to try and contain fallout from the Israel-Hamas war, which has
sparked violence against American forces in Iraq and Syria as well as attacks
on international shipping in the Red Sea.

After days of refusal to issue details, the Pentagon came out Tuesday with
its first full account of Austin's health issues, but the new transparency
came too late for a clearly upset White House.

According to two of his doctors from Walter Reed National Military Medical
Center, Austin's prostate cancer was detected as a result of routine
screening in early December.

He underwent minor surgery to treat it on December 22, returning home the
following day, the doctors said, referring to a procedure the Pentagon had
previously been describing as "elective."

However, Austin was readmitted to the same hospital on January 1 due to
complications "including nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain,"
they said.

"Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection," while medical
personnel found "abdominal fluid collections impairing the function of his
small intestines" after Austin was moved to intensive care on January 2.

- 'Not good' -

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby made clear that
Austin had not followed procedures.

"It is not optimal for a situation like this to go as long as it did without
the commander-in-chief knowing about it or the national security adviser
knowing about it, or frankly other leaders at the Department of Defense,"
Kirby said during a briefing at the White House.

"It's not the way this is supposed to happen... It's not good. We want to
make sure that it doesn't happen again."

Kirby insisted that Biden retains "complete confidence" in Austin and was
looking forward to having him back at the Pentagon.

However, amid an outcry both from Democratic allies in Congress and
Republican opponents, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients ordered an
urgent review of the rules for when senior US officials are incapacitated.

"There's an expectation that if a cabinet officer becomes hospitalized, and
for whatever reason can't continue to perform the duties even temporarily,
that that will be notified up the chain of command to the commander in
chief," Kirby said.

- 'Full recovery' -

The doctors in the Pentagon statement said Austin "continues to make progress
and we anticipate a full recovery although this can be a slow process."

The political damage may be as hard to heal.

While Austin was hospitalized on January 1, the Pentagon did not make any
public announcement until four days later, and also waited to notify Biden
and Congress.

Some of Austin's authorities were transferred to Deputy Defense Secretary
Kathleen Hicks on January 2, but she was not told that he was hospitalized
until two days later, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told
journalists on Monday.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was informed on January 4, while
Congress was not told until the day after that -- the same day the Pentagon
made a public announcement, albeit with few details.

Ryder reiterated Tuesday that the secretary has no plans to quit.

Austin "remains in good spirits. He's in contact with his senior staff and
has full access to required secure communications capabilities and continues
to monitor the (the Defense Department's) day-to-day operations worldwide,"
Ryder said.

The defense chief said in a statement over the weekend that he took "full
responsibility for my decisions about disclosure," and admitted that he
"could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately
informed."