US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who is battling cancer, handed over his duties to his deputy Kathleen Hicks a few hours after he was taken to the hospital for an "urgent bladder problem," Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement, UNN reports.
Details
Ryder issued a statement saying that around 5 p.m. on Sunday, February 11, Austin had transferred "the functions and duties of the office" to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks.
"The Deputy Secretary of Defense has assumed the functions and duties. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House, and Congress have been notified," according to the statement.
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