Washington:

The Pentagon said Monday that privacy concerns kept Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s cancer treatment secret but found no evidence of intentional misconduct or obfuscation.

Austin controversially kept U.S. President Joe Biden in the dark for weeks about his prostate cancer diagnosis, with the commander in chief and Congress not being informed until days after he was hospitalized on January 1 due to complications from treatment.

“No inspection during this review revealed any indication of malicious intent or an attempt to obfuscate,” the Pentagon said in an unclassified summary of a review of Austin’s hospitalization ordered by Austin’s chief of staff last month.

However, the review found that “medical privacy laws prohibit health care providers from sharing medical information candidly with the secretary of state’s staff,” and they were “reluctant to pry or share any information they did learn.”

The summary also said there was a “lack of established methods for making … unplanned decisions” transferring authority from the secretary to deputies, which “could result in a lack of comprehensive information sharing about the situation.”

Austin, a 70-year-old career soldier, initially underwent minor surgery to treat cancer on December 22 and returned home the next day.

But on January 1, he was readmitted to the hospital due to complications including nausea and severe pain.

The White House was not informed of Austin’s hospitalization until January 4, Congress was not informed until the next day, and Biden was not informed of Austin’s cancer diagnosis until January 9.

Several Republican lawmakers have called for Austin — who apologized earlier this month for keeping his treatment secret — to be fired, but Biden has stood by him.

On February 11, the Defense Minister was hospitalized again and was treated under general anesthesia for bladder problems.

The public was notified of the incident about two hours after it occurred, and the Pentagon said military, White House and congressional officials had been notified. Austin was discharged from the hospital two days later.

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