According to sources, President Biden was not informed about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's hospitalization until Thursday afternoon, several days after Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The news of Austin's hospitalization was finally delivered to Biden by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

Austin, who was hospitalized on Monday, January 1, due to complications from a minor elective surgery, has not disclosed further details about his ailment. The public remained unaware of his condition until Friday, when the Pentagon's spokesman, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, made the announcement.

In a statement on Saturday, Austin reassured that he is "on the mend and looks forward to returning to the Pentagon soon." However, it is uncertain when the retired four-star Army general, who served 41 years in the military, will be discharged from the hospital.

Ryder explained that there were multiple factors that contributed to the decision of withholding the news of Austin's hospitalization. "This has been an evolving situation in which we had to consider a number of factors, including medical and personal privacy issues," he said during a press conference.

The Pentagon Press Association criticized the decision to keep the public uninformed about Austin's hospitalization. In a letter to Ryder and Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Chris Meagher, the association expressed their outrage, stating, "The fact that he has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for four days and the Pentagon is only now alerting the public late on a Friday evening is an outrage."

As the nation awaits Austin's recovery and return to his duties, the incident raises concerns about transparency and the dissemination of crucial information regarding the health and well-being of top government officials.