What's going on in the Pentagon?

How is it possible that the US defence secretary Lloyd Austin goes into hospital and then suffers complications from a "medical procedure" involving surgery, and no one was told about it for days? If President Biden gets a cold, the world knows and medical bulletins are posted. But Austin, in one of the most senior and sensitive jobs in the Biden administration, goes to hospital and hands over the reigns to his deputy who just happens to be on holiday in Puerto Rico and not a single official in the Pentagon lets the president know or anyone else in the national security team. It's so bizarre that it's almost beyond belief. Was it such a delicate medical procedure that Austin didn't want anyone to know about it? This defence secretary has been mostly so sure-footed that it makes little sense. He did once say that one of the ohjectives of the US support for Ukraine was to degrade Russia's warfighting capability so that the Russian army couldn't carry out any more offensives in the future which caused a bit of a stir. But apart from that, Austin has been solid and reliable. His only other fault is his lack of enthusiasm for appearing before the media. Perhaps that's why he must have told his officials in his private office that he didn't want his medical procedure bandied about in the press and so he told them to keep quiet about it. But not telling the Wite House? Surely that was his responsibility? It's a huge mistake on his part and Congress which always wants to be told everything will hammer away until they see heads rolling.