Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Tuesday and has resumed his full duties after being hospitalized for a second time since his prostate cancer diagnosis last December, the Pentagon said
“On the advice of his doctors, Secretary Austin will recuperate and perform his duties remotely from home for a period before returning to work at the Pentagon later this week,” the Department of Defense said in a statement. “He has full access to the unclassified and classified communications systems necessary to perform his duties.”
The 70-year-old Pentagon chief has been plagued by ongoing health issues since secretly undergoing surgery in December to treat prostate cancer – a diagnosis that he withheld from top government officials, including President Biden.
Austin was admitted to Walter Reed’s intensive care unit Sunday for a bladder issue and underwent a non-surgical procedure under general anesthesia on Monday, according to his doctors.
“He remained in good condition throughout and no longer needed critical care monitoring on the morning of Feb. 13,” Dr. John Maddox, the trauma medical director, and Dr. Gregory Chesnut, director of the Center for Prostate Disease Research at the Murtha Cancer Center, of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, said in a statement.
The doctors noted that Austin has “progressed well” and they anticipated he will “continue his full recovery.”
“The bladder issue was not related to his cancer diagnosis and will have no effect on his excellent cancer prognosis,” they added.
Austin is expected to host a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Wednesday and confer with US partners about the ongoing war between Kyiv and Moscow.
He had been slated to travel to Brussels for the meeting, but the Tuesday trip was scrapped following his hospitalization.
In January, Austin kicked up a firestorm after it emerged that he and his team failed to notify military leaders, Congress and the White House about his cancer diagnosis and subsequent New Year’s Day hospitalization after complications from prostatectomy surgery.
Austin remained hospitalized for two weeks because of the complications.
“I did not handle this right,” Austin admitted earlier this month.
“I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public. I apologize to my teammates, and to the American people.”
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) has opened a formal congressional investigation into Austin’s health scare and lack of disclosure.
The defense secretary is set to face questions in a House Armed Services Committee hearing later this month about his health and his failure to inform the public.