WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has prostate cancer and his recent secretive hospitalization was for surgery and later to treat an urinary tract infection related to that operation, doctors said Tuesday.

The 70-year-old Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Dec. 22 and underwent surgery to treat the cancer. Austin developed the infection a week later. Senior administration and defense officials were not told for days about his hospitalization or his cancer.

A Pentagon spokesman blamed the lapse on a key staffer being out sick with the flu.

The White House chief of staff on Tuesday ordered Cabinet members or secretaries to notify his office if they are unable to perform their duties such as during a medical situation.

Jeff Zients, in a memo to Cabinet secretaries, directed that they send the White House any existing procedures for delegating authority in the event of incapacitation or loss of communication by Friday.

While a review of Austin’s case is ongoing, Zients is requiring agencies to notify his office and the office of Cabinet affairs at the White House if an agency experiences or plans to experience a circumstance in which a Cabinet head can’t perform their duties.

It also requires that agencies document when any such transfer of authority occurs and that the person serving in the acting role promptly establish contact with relevant White House staff.

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