Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a meeting at the Pentagon on Nov. 22. (Cliff Owen/AP)
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday night following complications from an elective medical procedure, the Pentagon announced Friday.
“He is recovering well and is expecting to resume his full duties today,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson, said in a statement.
The Pentagon statement did not specify what the elective procedure was that led to complications.
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was “prepared to act for and exercise the powers of the secretary, if required,” according to the statement.
Austin, 70, is not the first senior Pentagon leader to be hospitalized in recent months. Gen. Eric Smith, commandant of the Marine Corps, suffered a heart attack on Oct. 29 and was in a Washington hospital for more than two weeks.