Pentagon gives health update on Austin after hospitalization controversy

The Pentagon gave an update on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s health on Saturday in the wake of controversy surrounding his recent hospitalization. 

“Secretary Austin remains hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and is in good condition,” reads a statement from Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.

“He’s in contact with his senior staff and has full access to required secure communications capabilities and continues to monitor DOD’s day-to-day operations worldwide.”

The statement also said the Pentagon does not “have a specific date for Secretary Austin’s release from the hospital at this time but will continue to provide daily updates until then.”

Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., on the first day of the month because of complications “including nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain,” from an earlier hospital procedure to fight prostate cancer in December that he kept secret from the White House. He also kept the later hospital visit secret for days.

President Biden on Friday said that Austin had shown a lapse in judgment for not letting him know about his hospitalization. However, he also said he still has confidence in his Defense secretary.

Republican members of the Senate Armed Service Committee sent a letter to Austin Wednesday demanding that the Pentagon give a detailed timeline of events concerning the Defense secretary’s “incapacitation” and hospitalization.

“We are deeply troubled by the apparent breakdown in communications between your office and the rest of the Department of Defense, the White House, and Congress over the past two weeks,” they wrote.