US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is battling prostate cancer, has transferred his duties to his deputy, Kathleen Hicks, hours after he was taken to hospital with an “urgent bladder problem”, a spokesman said.
Undersecretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks “assumed duties and responsibilities” just before 5 p.m. (2200 GMT), Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement, adding that Austin was still undergoing treatment and that the White House and Congress had been informed. .
The announcement came weeks after it emerged that Austin, 70, had concealed previous hospital stays and failed to immediately inform US President Joe Biden of his cancer diagnosis, sparking criticism as the United States faces crises in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Austin effectively disappeared from the public eye for prostate cancer treatment in December and again in January after suffering complications from the procedure, after initially hiding both the diagnosis and treatment from President Joe Biden and the rest of the administration.
This time, the public was alerted about two hours after the 70-year-old man was sent to the hospital Sunday afternoon, with Defense Department Press Secretary Pat Ryder saying in a statement that the military, the White House and Congress had been notified.
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Austin “was transported by his security unit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center,” Ryder said.
“The Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been notified. Additionally, the White House and Congress have been notified.”
It was not immediately clear whether Austin had already been hired or how long he would stay, though Ryder noted that the defense chief brought classified communications systems with him and retained “the functions and responsibilities of his office.”
After coming under heavy political fire for concealing previous hospital stays, Austin apologized earlier this month.
“I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis,” he told reporters on February 1.
At the time, he said he was still recovering, suffering from leg pain and using a golf cart for transportation inside the Pentagon.
The undisclosed absences, like this current hospital stay, come as the United States faces a spiraling crisis in the Middle East, with American forces in Iraq and Syria facing near-daily attacks by Iranian-backed militants in retaliation for Washington’s persistent support for Israel.
The top US defense official is also a key figure in the Biden administration’s attempts to maintain support for Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion, as Republican members of Congress refuse to authorize new funding for military aid to Kiev.
Various Republican lawmakers had previously called for Austin to be fired, but Biden, while lamenting the Pentagon chief’s lapse in judgment, said he remained confident in his defense secretary.
A commanding figure of over six feet tall, Austin is an intensely private person who avoids the limelight, which he says played a role in his decision to keep his cancer diagnosis a secret.
But he conceded that “accepting this kind of work means losing some of the privacy that most of us expect. Americans have a right to know if their leaders are facing health problems that could affect their ability to carry out their duties, even temporarily.” “
