Kelly Magsamen, the chief of staff for Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, will step down at the end of June.
Magsamen has served as Austin’s chief of staff for the past 3 1/2 years. Austin did not say why she was leaving the position but highly praised her.
“Kelly has been at my side since the start of my tenure as Secretary of Defense,” Austin said. “She has been the chief architect of every initiative I have launched to defend our nation, take care of our people, and succeed through teamwork.”
In January, Austin, Magsamen, and other staff members were at the center of controversy when the department did not report to the White House or Congress that the defense secretary had been hospitalized.
Austin, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer, was admitted to the hospital on Jan. 1, but his department did not inform the White House until three days later. Congress was not informed until Jan. 5, which was the same day Austin resumed his responsibilities.
An internal Pentagon investigation found the delay in notifying the respective branches was due to limitations staff faced in sharing information due to medical privacy laws. At the time of Austin’s hospitalization, Magsamen was out sick.
Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh denied on Wednesday that Magsamen’s departure had any connection to the Defense Department’s inspector general’s investigation into the secretary’s controversial hospital stay earlier this year.
“Our review remains ongoing and the DoD OIG does not provide timelines of our ongoing work to protect the integrity of the investigative process,” DoD Office of the Inspector General spokeswoman Mollie Halpern told the Truth Voices.
Austin was hospitalized again in February for two days due to a bladder problem unrelated to his cancer.
