WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been hospitalized since Monday due to complications following a minor medical procedure, Air Force Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said Friday. It was the department's first acknowledgment that Austin had been admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Ryder said Friday that it is not clear when Austin will be released from the hospital, but said the secretary is “recovering well and expects to resume full duties today.”
He said this was an “evolving situation,” and due to privacy and medical concerns, the department did not disclose Austin's absence.
In a statement, Ryder said Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was at all times “prepared to act for and exercise the Secretary's authority as necessary.”
Austin, 70, spent 41 years in the military and retired in 2016 as a four-star general of the Army.