Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin treated for prostate cancer, severe infection: Pentagon

• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been hospitalized since Jan. 1 for complications following surgery to treat prostate cancer, officials at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said.
• White House officials were not immediately informed of Austin's emergency hospitalization, the cause of which had been previously undisclosed.
• Austin's lack of transparency about his medical status alarmed members of Congress, some of whom have called on him to resign.
• President Joe Biden is standing by Austin, according to the White House.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized on Jan. 1 for complications following surgery nearly two weeks earlier to treat prostate cancer, doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center revealed Tuesday.

The disclosure of Austin's diagnosis and cause of his hospitalization came amid controversy over the Pentagon's failure for days to inform the White House or the public that the Defense secretary had been admitted to Walter Reed, where he ended up in the intensive care unit.

Pentagon officials also failed for two days last week to notify Austin's second-in-command that he had transferred authority to her while he was in the ICU, and while she was in Puerto Rico.

President Joe Biden only learned Austin's prostate cancer diagnosis on Tuesday morning, three days after speaking with Austin on the phone, the White House said.

Hours later Tuesday, the Walter Reed doctors issued their public statement, which is just the latest in a series of surprising disclosures about the Defense chief's health since Friday.

Austin is sixth in the line of presidential succession and is an essential player in the United States national security apparatus. His previously secret hospitalization came as the