A watchdog investigation into outgoing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization in 2024 found that his secretive hospital stay resulted in heightened national security risk, in part because Austin took medication with the potential to impair cognitive function while still in sole command of the Pentagon.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization scandal last year increased national security risks and should have been handled better, according to a new report from the Pentagon’s watchdog. The Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Defense (OIG),