The Pentagon revealed on Friday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has spent nearly the entirety of the new year in the hospital after surgery complications, making the disclosure only four days after he was first admitted. The announcement was scarce in details, with officials saying only that Austin was “recovering well” after complications following an elective procedure. Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told CNN that the decision to withhold the defense secretary’s hospitalization for days was “an evolving situation in which we had to consider a number of other factors.”
