WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin faces scrutiny in Congress on Thursday regarding his decision to keep secret his cancer surgery and subsequent hospitalization as he did not inform President Joe Biden and his deputy over the matter.
Austin has apologized for handling the situation but his appearances before the Republican-led House of Representatives Armed Services Committee at 10 a.m. marks the first-time lawmakers will directly question him.
The hearing is anticipated to be one of the most contentious and personal in Austin’s career. Representative Mike Rogers, the committee’s chairman, is expected to express strong disapproval, stating in prepared remarks, “It’s completely unacceptable that it took over 3 days to inform the President that the Secretary of Defense was hospitalized.”
Austin did not disclose his initial prostate cancer surgery in December and then hospitalized for post-surgical complications, despite the pressing national security issues at hand. Despite the Pentagon’s release of results from an internal 30-day review on Monday, which found no evidence of wrongdoing, Rogers is expected to criticize the report for failing to provide clear answers regarding the matter.
At a rare press briefing earlier in February, Austin, known for his privacy, admitted fault for not informing Biden and senior staff about his prostate cancer diagnosis ahead of time, saying that the health scare had deeply affected him.
But both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have criticized Austin for his lack of transparency regarding the health issue. Some prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have demanded that Austin should be removed from the office.
