Lloyd Austin Will Hand Off Pentagon Duties While Undergoing Procedure
- His deputy briefly became acting defense secretary on Friday
- Austin criticized for not disclosing health problem in January
Lloyd Austin
Photographer: Ting Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin briefly turned over his duties to his deputy on Friday while he underwent a medical procedure linked to an issue that left him hospitalized for two weeks in January.
The secretary had a “successful, elective, and minimally invasive follow-up non-surgical procedure related to his bladder issue” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland for about two and a half hours, Defense Department spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement Friday night.