The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland reported this Tuesday that the Secretary of State of the United States and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin is hospitalized and receiving treatment for prostate cancer detected in early December.

Due to this illness, Austin underwent a “minimally invasive surgical procedure” on December 22 and for which he received general anesthesia. The Defense Secretary recovered “without incident” from surgery and returned to his home the next day. “His prostate cancer was detected early and his prognosis is excellent,” the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center detailed in a brief statement collected by the American news network ‘CNN’.

Despite being discharged before Christmas, Austin was re-admitted to the hospital on January 1 after suffering “nausea with severe pain in his abdomen, hips and legs”, and was found to be suffering from a urinary tract infection and He suffered from prostate cancer. Since then, the Secretary of Defense has been admitted to the medical center although on this occasion at no time has he lost consciousness or been subjected to general anesthesia.

However, His state of health has generated great controversy due to the lack of information communicated. from the Pentagon, not even to the White House. In fact, Joe Biden was not notified of Austin’s health status until this Tuesdaythe same day they received the news.

At the same time, the Department of Defense did not give a date for Austin’s discharge, it did explain that as early as Friday resumed work and began receiving necessary operational updates. The 70-year-old Secretary of Defense is immediately behind President Joe Biden in the US military’s chain of command and plays a central role in the numerous theaters in which the United States is involved militarily around the world, including conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea or the war in Ukraine.

Due to this controversy, The Pentagon announced this Tuesday the launch of an internal review to improve its transparency, after the secrecy that has surrounded Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization. Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder explained in a press conference that this process will last 30 days. Actions have also been ordered to ensure greater knowledge of the situation regarding any transfer of power by the Secretary of Defense, so that all relevant channels are notified and aware of the reasons.