“We approached this issue incorrectly. I approached this the wrong way, I should have told the President about my cancer diagnosis. I had to tell my team and the American public about this. I apologize to my colleagues and to the American people,” RIA Novosti quotes the Pentagon chief.

He also confirmed that he has no plans to resign, despite his diagnosis of cancer.

On January 29, the head of the US Department of Defense returned to work after almost a month of treatment for prostate cancer.