Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin — who was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 22, 2023, and was discharged on Jan. 9, 2024 — was returned to the same hospital on Sunday, the Pentagon said.
Austin was transferred with his security detail to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center around 2:20 p.m., and is “maintaining the duties and duties of his office,” the Pentagon said in a statement, according to Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Rader. But he added that the Deputy Secretary of Defense has been notified and is prepared to take over Austin's duties “if necessary.”
As a result of Austin's hospitalization in December, the White House asked Cabinet members and secretaries to notify the chief of staff if they were unable to report for duty.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was also notified, as was the White House and some members of Congress.
Ryder said Austin traveled to the hospital with the classified and unclassified communications systems needed to do his job.
Austin was scheduled to leave Tuesday for Brussels to hold a meeting of the Ukrainian Contact Group, which he created in 2022 to coordinate military support for Kiev after the Russian invasion. Afterwards, Austin was scheduled to attend the regular meeting of NATO defense ministers. It was not immediately clear whether his hospitalization would change those plans.
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–With reports from the Associated Press.
