US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hospitalized since Jan. 1, Pentagon announces
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spent four days in the intensive care unit since Jan. 1, NBC News reported.
Austin, 70, was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on New Year’s Day after developing complications from an elective medical procedure, according to a brief statement issued by the Pentagon late Friday. He was expected to resume his duties there.
Austin remained hospitalized Saturday afternoon and is “recovering well,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in an email. Austin resumed his full duties Friday night. Ryder declined to comment on Austin’s condition and the NBC report that he had been in intensive care.
The Pentagon’s delay in acknowledging Austin had been hospitalized with a serious illness represents an unusual break with the tradition of updating the news media on the health of senior government officials. The Pentagon had issued statements quickly about the condition of senior officials, including Austin, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NBC News cited two administration officials who said Austin had been unable to perform his duties since New Year’s Day. That would have left his duties to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, whom a senior Department of Defense official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told USA TODAY had been on leave.
Hicks has been in Puerto Rico and has conducted routine business from there, according NBC.
The Defense Department has been dealing with crises in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
On Thursday, the Pentagon ordered a drone strike on a militant in Baghdad that killed Mushtaq Jawad Kazim al-Jawari, also known as Abu-Taqwa. Abu-Taqwa had been actively involved in planning and carrying out attacks against American personnel, Ryder told reporters.