U.S. Defense Secretary Under Congressional Questioning Over Health Status Concealment

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is being questioned in Congress today, Thursday, regarding his decision to keep his surgery for prostate cancer and subsequent hospital treatment a secret, even from President Joe Biden and his Deputy Secretary. Austin apologized for how he handled the situation, including to Biden himself, but his appearance before the Republican-majority House Armed Services Committee at 10 AM (15:00 GMT) will be the first time he is directly questioned by committee members. According to prepared remarks, Mike Rogers, the chair of the Armed Services Committee, will say during the session, "It is utterly unacceptable that it took more than three days to inform the President that the Secretary of Defense was in the hospital and not in control of the Pentagon. Wars were raging in Ukraine and Israel, our ships were being fired upon in the Red Sea, and our bases were preparing for attacks in Iraq and Syria. But the Commander-in-Chief was unaware that his Secretary of Defense was out of service."