Pentagon chief says he should have handled cancer diagnosis better

Lloyd Austin says he was shaken by news of prostate cancer but he should have told Joe Biden and the public sooner

Lloyd Austin, the US defense secretary, said on Thursday that his recent cancer diagnosis shook him but he should have notified Joe Biden and the public about it.

Austin came under fire earlier this year after it was revealed that the 70-year-old was admitted on New Year's Day to Walter Reed national military medical center for what the Pentagon has said were complications following a recent elective medical procedure", a fact the defense department kept under wraps for five days.