Michael Gabriel Hernandez |WASHINGTON – The Defense Department’s independent inspector general announced Thursday that it will investigate the Pentagon’s handling of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization for prostate cancer. Austin and the Pentagon have faced increasing scrutiny for his secretive hospitalization, which even the White House was unaware of until last week. The Pentagon did not disclose the cause of Austin’s hospitalization until Tuesday when his doctors acknowledged he was being treated for an infection after undergoing surgery for prostate cancer. The White House said it was not informed that Austin was hospitalized until the afternoon of Jan. 4. US President Joe Biden was subsequently informed by his chief of staff Jeff Zients that evening.
