Lloyd Austin, the US defense secretary, said on Thursday that his recent cancer diagnosis shook him but he should have notified Joe Biden and the public about it.
Austin came under fire earlier this year after it was revealed that the 70-year-old was admitted on New Year’s Day to Walter Reed national military medical center for what the Pentagon has said were “complications following a recent elective medical procedure”, a fact the defense department kept under wraps for five days.
It was later clarified that he had undergone surgery related to prostate cancer.
“I did not handle this right,” Austin said in his first press conference since his secret hospitalization.
Austin said he had never directed anyone in his staff to keep his January hospitalization from the White House or the public. He also said he never considered resigning, though some Republicans called on him to do so.
Nevertheless, he confirmed he had apologized to Biden, and realized he should have notified a wider circle about the issue. His hospitalization also came at a critical time for the defense department, as the US became increasingly engaged in Middle East conflict.
