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President Biden first discovered of U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s prostate cancer on Tuesday — the same day as the general public and a month after the diagnosis.
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center revealed Tuesday that Austin was first identified with prostate cancer in early December and underwent a prostatectomy on Dec. 22.
Per Walter Reed, the 70-year-old recovered uneventfully from his surgical procedure, and he returned the next morning. His prostate cancer was detected early, and the prognosis is “excellent,” the hospital stated.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/File)
During his hospitalization, Austin transferred authority to his Deputy Secretary, Kathleen Hicks, and did not inform the White House. The Defense Department has for days stated Austin was initially at Walter Reed for an “elective medical procedure,” and not prostate surgical procedure.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby stated later Tuesday that Biden was not informed of Austin’s hospitalization until final Thursday, and solely discovered of the cancer diagnosis Tuesday.
Asked whether or not President Biden believed the time-lapse was acceptable, Kirby admitted it was “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, that’s not the way this is supposed to happen. The president understands that,” Kirby stated.
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients launched a memo earlier Tuesday to the president’s cupboard regarding protocols for delegating authority. It asks that each cupboard company submit in writing their present current protocols for a delegation of authority they’ve in place for evaluate to the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs and the Chief of Staff by Friday.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks throughout a gathering on the Pentagon in October. (Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Images/File)
Zients’ memo additionally directs protocols that cupboard businesses should undertake within the occasion of a delegation of authority, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated. The Pentagon has additionally launched its personal evaluate.
“We all recognize that this didn’t unfold the way it should have. On so many levels, not just the notification process up the chain of command, but the transparency issue — we all recognize that. And I think we all want to make sure we learn from that,” Kirby stated.
It was nonetheless not clear Tuesday how this may have an effect on Austin’s job, journey or different public engagements going ahead.
The Pentagon issued a memo Monday by itself inner evaluate, and broadened the circle of leaders who can be informed of any delegation of authorities by the protection secretary to make sure that, sooner or later, “proper and timely notification has been made to the President and White House and, as appropriate, the United States Congress and the American public.”
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Going ahead, any time authority is transferred, a wider swath of officers will even be notified to incorporate the Pentagon’s normal counsel, the chair and vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Combatant Commanders, service secretaries, the service chiefs of workers, the White House Situation Room, and the senior workers of the secretary and deputy secretary of protection.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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