Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin acknowledged Thursday he was “shaken” by a cancer diagnosis in early December, but issued a string of apologies for concealing his health woes from the president and the American people in his first public press briefing since the furor broke last month.
Mr. Austin called the medical news a “gut punch” and said his first instinct was to keep his condition private, including from President Biden and the press.
But Mr. Austin’s efforts to keep his medical condition under wraps backfired spectacularly, triggering multiple investigations and internal reviews, as well as calls from some lawmakers on Capitol Hill for his resignation. The White House and the Pentagon press corps only learned of year-end emergency surgery for the defense secretary days after it happened.
On Thursday, the defense chief acknowledged that he was still recovering after moving slowly to the podium in the Pentagon press briefing room for his first public remarks about what happened.
“I don’t think it’s news that I’m a pretty private guy. I’ve never liked burdening others with my problems. It’s not my way,” Mr. Austin told reporters. “But I’ve learned from this experience.”
He said he now realizes that accepting a critical position like secretary of defense means losing some of the privacy that he has always cherished.
“The American people have a right to know when their leaders are facing health challenges that might affect their ability to perform their duties, even temporarily,” Mr. Austin said.
Mr. Austin said he never directed his staff to withhold information about his medical condition from the White House after he was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Jan. 1 following complications from his initial cancer surgery.
The secretary said he didn’t tell his military aide to direct the ambulance not to use its lights and sirens when responding to his home.
“I asked my assistant to call the ambulance but did not direct him to do anything further than that,” Mr. Austin said. “So what he said and why he said it, I think that should come out in the review.”
He apologized to Mr. Biden for not keeping him informed about his prostate cancer diagnosis and his hospitalization following complications from his surgery.