US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced a new annual testosterone screening programme for US service members aged 30 and over.
Hegseth announced the screening on Wednesday in a video message. It will be added to the periodic health assessment, which troops already complete each year and is mandatory for service members 30 and older, with those under 30 able to opt in. Any resulting treatment, including testosterone replacement therapy, would remain the individual’s choice, Hegseth said.
Hegseth cast the initiative as part of the department’s effort to maintain what he has repeatedly called the military’s most decisive advantage: the “individual warfighter”.
“This initiative, it’s not about artificial enhancement,” Hegseth said in a video posted on X. “It’s about restoring and optimising your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity, ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain the fight.”
Interest in the issue is not new to the Pentagon. A provision in the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act requirePete Hegseth gestures while speaking at a podium during a defence summitd the defence secretary to brief Congress on the military’s available treatments for low testosterone and its existing testing and screening protocols.
Testosterone levels in men decline naturally with age by roughly 1 percent a year after 30 or 40, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The screening programme is the latest in a series of moves by Hegseth , an Army National Guard veteran and former Fox News co-host, to reshape the military around physical standards and what he describes as a warrior ethos.
In a September speech to hundreds of senior officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Hegseth declared there would be “no more beardos” and no more “fat troops”, unveiling a slate of directives on fitness and appearance.
The testosterone screening announcement drew criticism from Democratic lawmakers, who linked it to Hegseth’s opposition to transgender service members. Senator Tammy Duckworth said the announcement sounded “like gender-affirming care to me,” while Representative Chrissy Houlahan said it “proves that Secretary Hegseth takes direction from the far corners of the manosphere “.
Both lawmakers called for hormone screening to be extended to women in uniform, citing elevated infertility rates among military personnel.
