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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had surgery last month after a prostate cancer diagnosis, officials disclosed Tuesday, detailing for the first time what condition led to serious medical complications and a lengthy hospitalization that he kept secret for days from the White House, Congress and the American public. Austin’s condition was announced by the Pentagon in a statement attributed to John Maddox and Gregory Chesnut, doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. They said the retired Army general, 70, was diagnosed with cancer in December after routine screening and underwent a “minimally invasive surgical procedure” known as a prostatectomy, in which all or part of the organ is removed, while under general anesthesia. He was admitted Jan. 1 after developing complications from the surgery and remains a patient there. (Lamothe, Viser, Nirappil and Ryan, 1/9)

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had surgery last month for one of the most common cancers among American men, prostate cancer. The minimally invasive procedure to remove all or part of his prostate gland resulted in a severe infection that caused him to return to the hospital, according to Pentagon officials. ... Prostate cancer affects more than one in eight U.S. men, and one in six African American men, during their lifetime, the doctors said. The nonprofit American Cancer Society said it's the most common form of cancer in men other than skin cancer, and the risk of getting it increases with age. Austin, the first Black defense secretary, is 70. (Cuevas, 1/9)

The Pentagon described Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s prostate cancer surgery as an “elective medical procedure,” which many people might take to mean it was minor. But that’s not the case, cancer experts say. “Elective means it’s not done on an urgent basis — it’s scheduled,” said Dr. Nitin Yerram, urologist and director of urologic research at Hackensack University Medical Center. “Most cancer operations are done on an elective basis.” A prostatectomy, the surgery Austin underwent last month, can be serious and is required for some patients, even if not urgently, said Dr. Quoc-Dien Trinh, co-director of the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Prostate Cancer Center. The procedure removes some or all of the prostate to remove the cancer. (Payne, 1/9)

News that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized with a urinary tract infection has cast light on a common condition that can quickly turn life-threatening, especially among older patients. (Sima, Soong, Bever and Cimons, 1/9)

While aides to the president said he would not fire Mr. Austin, they acknowledged the breakdown in communications and moved to assert new discipline over the administration. Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House chief of staff, ordered a review of procedures and sent a directive to cabinet secretaries making clear that they are to inform the White House when they are unable to perform their duties. ... John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, said that Mr. Biden’s “first and foremost concern is the secretary’s health” and that the president still had “full faith and confidence” in Mr. Austin and would keep him until the end of his term. (Baker, 1/9)

Stunned Defense Department officials struggled on Tuesday to digest the news that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and kept it a secret for weeks. POLITICO spoke to five officials in the Pentagon and administration, as well as two former officials, all of whom were granted anonymity to give candid reactions to the disclosures. They said they are sympathetic to Austin’s desire for privacy, but confused as to why he kept his diagnosis and subsequent hospitalization from his own staff and top Pentagon leaders. And some are incensed that Austin withheld his cancer diagnosis from President Joe Biden until Tuesday, weeks after Austin learned of his condition in an early December prostate screening. (Seligman and Ward, 1/9)