Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was transported by ambulance to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on the evening of Jan. 1 due to "severe pain" but currently has a "good" prognosis, the Pentagon’s top spokesman said today.
Military assets had been mobilized to potentially shoot the balloon down, but Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder said so far the decision has been made to let it float, in part, because "any potential debris field would be significant" and a threat to people on the ground.
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Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder worked closely with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin when Austin, then a four-star general, led US Central Command from 2013 to 2016.
PENTAGON: It’s always difficult to tell when the military is covering its tuckus and when it’s just being careful. So when the outgoing head of the Air Force press desk, Col. Patrick Ryder, told reporters this afternoon that the service had not made any decision about whether to go ahead with a combat test of […]