Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in intensive care for several days, but is now recovering and resumed full duty last night, according to a new report.
Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday due to complications from an elective medical procedure, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement Friday.
Ryder said the decision was made due to “medical and personal privacy concerns” amid heightened tensions in the Middle East after a U.S. airstrike killed four members of an Iranian-aligned Iraqi militia in Baghdad this week. He said the news was not reported for several days. At least 103 people have been killed by a suicide bomber in Iran as Israel continues to bomb Gaza.
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US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spent several days in intensive care, but is now recovering and resumed full duty last night, according to a new report. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
According to Politico's Lara Seligman, Austin was hospitalized on Saturday and returned to normal work last night.
Seligman quoted Ryder, telling wrote.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Defense for comment but did not receive a response.
Two government officials also told NBC News that Austin, the country's first African-American defense secretary, spent four days in intensive care.
He was unable to perform his duties from New Year's Day until yesterday, and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who was on leave, has returned to duty, a senior defense official told news outlets.
It is still unclear why Austin was admitted to the hospital in the first place, what the planned surgery was, and when it was performed.
Austin's hospitalization comes amid a week of heightened tensions in the Middle East. Two comrades-in-arms killed by members of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) militia during a funeral at PMF headquarters in Baghdad after four people were killed in a US military attack in Baghdad, January 4, 2024 carry the body of
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Regarding why the Pentagon did not notify the public about the situation until last night, Seligman said Ryder's “situation was evolving and many factors had to be considered, including medical and personal privacy issues.” ” he was reported to have said.
The Pentagon Press Association (PPA), an organization that serves as a voice for journalists who cover the Pentagon, sent a letter from its board of directors to Secretary Austin's staff on Friday night.
The letter, addressed to Ryder and Chris Meagher, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, shared the organization's “serious concerns” about the Department of Defense's delay in publicizing Austin's hospitalization.
“We are writing to express grave concerns about the Department of Defense's failure to notify the public and media of Secretary Lloyd Austin's ongoing hospitalization,” the letter reads. “The fact that he has been hospitalized for four days at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and that the Department of Defense is only alerting the public late Friday night is outrageous.”
Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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The group wrote that the Pentagon's disclosures fell “far below the standard disclosure standards” for government officials undergoing surgery.
The board asserted that the American people have a right to know when their leaders become incompetent.
FOX News' Sarah Rumpf-Witten and Liz Frieden contributed to this report.
