NEW: SecDef Lloyd Austin's 'Elective' Surgery Was for Prostate Cancer Diagnosed in December

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

55% : As more details emerge regarding Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's medical condition and treatment, more questions are raised.
52% : That the White House wasn't apprised of Austin's condition or hospitalization until late in the week raises a whole host of other questions, as streiff ably points out here:Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General C. Q. Brown was informed the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was hospitalized Tuesday but agreed to maintain the charade that Austin was working at home.
50% : Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico, was asked to assume some of Austin's duties, but she didn't know he was in the hospital until Thursday.
50% : Ryder said that "nothing is more important to the secretary of defense and the Department of Defense than the trust and confidence of the American people and the public," and he was asked why Austin was reluctant to announce his medical condition....Ryder was pressed on Austin's reluctance to announce his condition.
46% : BACKGROUND: White House Says SecDef Austin's Job Is Not in Danger and That's a ProblemFriday night, it was reported that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had not informed National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that he was in the ICU at Walter Reed National Medical Center due to "complications" from a yet undefined "elective medical procedure."
30% : It fell to Sullivan to inform Biden that his secretary of Defense had been AWOL for four days while the SedDef's staff lied that Austin was working from home.

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