The president of United States, Joe Biden, He found out, after being hidden from him for a month, important news regarding one of the most important people in his Government. Is about Lloyd Austin, head of the Pentagonwho has cancer and underwent surgery in December, He was even admitted to intensive care, all without notifying the agentwhich generated enormous controversy in the country.
This news was not well received by the Americans and Biden adds a new complication in an election year in which he will also have to deal with the international crises that are breaking out in Ukraine and Israel.
The Pentagon, headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, He avoided giving details about his boss’s health problemswhich It didn’t go down well in the White House. Austin is in charge of supervising military deployments and trying to contain the consequences of the war between Israel and Hamas, a fundamental task in US foreign policy.
Strong criticism from the White House of the concealment of the head of the Pentagon
The Pentagon’s decision to hide Austin’s illness was not well received by the Government. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the official did not follow procedures and noted: “It is not optimal for a situation like this to go on as long as it did without the commander in chief knowing or the National Security Advisor knows, or frankly other leaders of the Department of Defense“he declared.
“This is not the way this is supposed to happen. It’s not right. We want to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
For his part, the White House chief of staff, Jeff Zients, gave the order to urgently review the rules for when senior officials have health problems.
According to Kirby, it is expected that “if a cabinet official is hospitalized and, for whatever reason, is unable to continue performing his duties, even temporarily, the chain of command is notified up to the commander in chief“.
Criticism of this decision came from both Republicans and Democrats, although, as Kirby noted, Biden “completely trusts” Austin and hopes he will return to the Pentagon soon.
Lloyd Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer
Austin’s prostate cancer was detected as a result of a routine check-up at the beginning of Decembersaid two doctors from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
He December 22 underwent surgery and was discharged the next day, but had to be admitted to the hospital again on January 1 due to complications “which included nausea with severe abdominal, hip and leg pain,” they added.
“The initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection” but doctors detected “accumulations of abdominal fluid that affected the functioning of the small intestine” after transferring him to intensive care on January 2.
Source: Ambito
