After being hospitalized for a bladder problem, Defense Secretary Austin delegated authority to his deputy

As he continues to recuperate from prostate cancer, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was admitted to the hospital on Sunday again for a bladder problem. According to the Pentagon, he has delegated authority to his deputy.

Austin was given a prostate cancer diagnosis in December and is still coping with side effects from his therapy.

He was taken by his security detail to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at around 2:20 p.m. on Sunday “to be seen for symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue,” according to a statement from Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.

Although Austin had originally planned to keep the “functions and duties of his office,” he gave them to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks at around 5 p.m. on Sunday. According to Ryder, he was still in the hospital as of Sunday night.

Notified were the White House, Congress, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Tuesday saw Austin go for Brussels, where he was to host a meeting of the Ukraine contact group, which he formed in 2022 to arrange military assistance to Kyiv after Russia’s incursion. Following that, Austin was expected to go to a normal NATO defense ministers’ meeting.

Whether this hospitalization would alter their plans was not immediately apparent.

Austin had a prostatectomy on December 22 to address prostate cancer, which was discovered in December.

He had difficulties during the course of the next week, and on January 1st, he was brought to Walter Reed Medical Center by ambulance due to excruciating agony, where he was admitted to the critical care unit. Up to January 15, Austin was employed at Walter Reed. After that, he kept getting better and worked from home until coming back to the Pentagon on January 29.

His physicians have previously said that there is no need for further therapies and that his prognosis for the malignancy is “excellent.”

Austin has returned to Walter Reed for follow-up appointments since his hospital stay, but because of ongoing problems from his cancer treatments, this is his first unplanned visit.

Austin waited weeks to disclose his first hospitalization or December cancer diagnosis to Congress, President Joe Biden, or his deputy defense secretary. An inspector general probe into the secrecy and an internal examination by the Pentagon have been launched. As he has repeatedly said, he never gave his staff instructions to conceal the fact that he was hospitalized.