Defense Secretary Says He Shouldn’t Have Kept Hospitalization, Cancer Diagnosis Secret

‘We did not handle this right.’

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin takes questions during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington on Feb. 1, 2024. Mr. Austin apologized for concealing his prostate cancer diagnosis and hospitalization from U.S. President Joe Biden and the rest of the government. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Feb. 1 said it wasn’t right that he and other military officials kept secret the fact that he underwent surgery for cancer and was hospitalized again shortly after.

“I want to be crystal clear—we did not handle this right. And I did not handle this right,” Mr. Austin, a retired general, told a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington.