WASHINGTON – The chair of the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on Jan 18 asked Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin to testify before the panel over the failure to timely disclose his recent hospitalisation, even to President Joe Biden.

Mr Austin had been in a hospital receiving treatment for prostate cancer since the beginning of 2024. His failure to timely tell Mr Biden he was hospitalised drew criticism from lawmakers and caught the White House by surprise.

He spent two weeks in hospital due to complications from a Dec 22 prostate cancer operation – which was also initially kept secret – and was discharged on Jan 15 to his Virginia home.

“Congress must understand what happened and who made decisions to prevent the disclosure of the whereabouts of a Cabinet secretary,” committee chairman Mike Rogers wrote in a letter to Mr Austin on Jan 18. REUTERS