Pentagon officials stunned by defense secretary keeping cancer diagnosis secret from POTUS: 'Reckless'

Some Pentagon officials feel Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was "reckless" for keeping his hospitalization and cancer diagnosis secret from President Biden and his subordinates. 

"He made a deliberate decision to not share something so important at minimum with the POTUS. It was reckless and irresponsible," one official, speaking anonymously, told Politico in a story published Tuesday. "I don’t want to take away the human element of his diagnosis. … However, his judgment should be questioned on this one."

The White House was "kept in the dark" about Austin's hospitalization, learning 48 hours after the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff first heard the news on Jan. 2. Austin, 70, was admitted to the intensive care unit at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Jan. 1 for severe pain for complications following a recent elective medical procedure," Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said last week. 

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Pentagon officials told Politico that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was "reckless" for keeping his hospitalization and cancer diagnosis secret from President Joe Biden and his subordinates.  (Bloomberg via Getty Images / AP Photo)

It was later revealed that Austin had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent a prostatectomy late last month. He was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Dec. 22, 2023, and underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure called a prostatectomy to treat and cure prostate cancer. 

Some Pentagon officials told Politico that they did not believe that Austin, 70, intentionally kept the president in the dark about his diagnosis, with a second official claiming that the incident was "a screw up because of people being out of the office."

Another former Department of Defense official disputed that point, saying that the chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, is known to be in contact "at all hours." 

"Kelly is a force to be reckoned with," the first Defense official said. "I highly doubt that her having the flu, unless she was unconscious, played a role."

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A third Defense official said that while Austin is known for being a quiet person, "[h]is desire for privacy doesn’t outweigh his duties to the president, department, or nation."  (Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images)

A senior Biden administration official said that the hospital scandal shows that "Lloyd Austin is being ill-served by a political staff who are either accommodating his worst impulses regarding disclosures, and shutting out those beyond his loyal coterie … or he has staff who are advising him badly and forgetting they really work for the president in his administration."

A third Defense official said that while Austin is known for being a quiet person, "[h]is desire for privacy doesn’t outweigh his duties to the president, department, or nation." 

The official continued: "This decision jeopardized national security and kept senior decision-makers — to include his own subordinate leaders alongside senior White House officials and the president — in the dark. It wasn’t fair to them or the people that rely on him."

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The Defense Department did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News' Louis Casiano, Bradford Betz and Houston Keene contributed to this report.