Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday a new mandatory screening program to test all service members age 30 and older, including women, for testosterone deficiency annually.<\/p>\n
Hormone treatment for troops with low testosterone will be voluntary.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur most decisive tactical advantage will always be the individual warfighter,\u201d Mr. Hegseth said in a video from his Pentagon office. \u201cWe have a sacred duty to maintain that advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal, he said in a social media message accompanying the video, was a \u201cHigh-T Department of War,\u201d Mr. Hegseth\u2019s preferred name for the Defense Department.<\/p>\n
Mr. Hegseth\u2019s focus on testosterone levels at a moment when U.S. forces are ramping up attacks in Iran is unorthodox. Defense secretaries typically focus on larger strategic questions, involving alliances, war and weapons production.<\/p>\n
But Mr. Hegseth, a former Army National Guard officer and Iraq war veteran, has not shied away from getting involved in the minutiae of service members\u2019 lives, such as mandating new grooming standards for troops who, because of skin conditions, had previously been permitted to grow beards<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cNo more beardos,\u201d he proclaimed.<\/p>\n Troops under 30 can volunteer to be screened, and anyone with low hormone levels will have the option to receive testosterone replacement therapy<\/a>, or T.R.T. \u201cIt\u2019s about restoring and optimizing your natural capability,\u201d Mr. Hegseth said.<\/p>\n The aim, he said, is to better prepare service members for a modern battlefield that Mr. Hegseth described as \u201cbrutal and unrelenting.\u201d<\/p>\n A clinically low level<\/a> of testosterone in men can cause muscle loss, fatigue, obesity and sexual dysfunction, and is linked to other serious health problems, including diabetes, osteoporosis and depression.<\/p>\n Stress, poor sleep and head injuries, which are part of military life, can also cause lower hormone levels. Recent studies have identified a condition called<\/a> \u201coperator syndrome,\u201d in which troops who have served long stretches in special operations units are more likely to report medical problems including decreased testosterone.<\/p>\n Use of the hormone comes with health risks, most notably to fertility, shutting down sperm production. It can increase the risk of blood clots, and often causes acne and hair loss.<\/p>\n Because of ongoing stigma, many service members avoid screenings for low testosterone or seek out hormone therapy from direct-to-consumer or illicit sources, Dr. Theodore Crisostomo-Wynne, a urologist at the Madigan Army Medical Center, said at an F.D.A. panel<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are service members who work their entire careers to get these special duty statuses that are very highly sought after,\u201d Dr. Crisostomo-Wynne said. \u201cAnd they worry that if they get seen for this disease and treated for it, that they may lose that status.\u201d<\/p>\n While women also produce testosterone, men produce it at levels 10 to 20 times as high. There is no F.D.A.-approved testosterone treatment for women.<\/p>\n Though T.R.T. has legitimate medical use, the hormone has also been skyrocketing in popularity<\/a> in the United States as a lifestyle drug to build muscle mass. Demand has grown from fewer than 1 million prescriptions in 2000 to nearly 12 million in 2025.<\/p>\n Low testosterone most often impacts men as they age. Of late, though, T.R.T. use is rising most rapidly among younger men<\/a>, many of whom do not have<\/a> clinically low testosterone levels. Popular influencers including Joe Rogan and Andrew Huberman have spoken publicly about their own use of T.R.T., as has Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/p>\n Mr. Hegseth, as defense secretary, has sought to cultivate an image as a manosphere-friendly leader. He regularly exercises with troops. He has overseen a ban on transgender service members and has questioned whether women are a detriment to ground combat units. The defense secretary has repeatedly blocked the promotions<\/a> of women to general and admiral ranks, even after they were selected by boards made up of senior officers.<\/p>\n He has also embraced the manosphere\u2019s vaccine skepticism. Earlier this year, he ordered an end to mandatory annual flu vaccines, calling the policy an \u201cabsurd, overreaching\u201d mandate. Two months later, after a flu outbreak<\/a> at Air Force basic training that sickened hundreds and killed one trainee, the military reversed course and began requiring flu vaccines for all troops and trainees at initial entry units.<\/p>\n Mr. Hegseth\u2019s order could have implications for the order that he and President Trump issued last year banning transgender troops from serving in the military. The ban, which is being challenged in federal courts<\/a>, is partially rooted in the Pentagon\u2019s insistence that transgender troops might not be able to access hormone therapy in a war zone.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Armed Forces must adhere to high mental and physical health standards to ensure our military can deploy, fight, and win, including in austere conditions and without the benefit of routine medical treatment or special provisions,\u201d the Trump administration\u2019s January 2025 ban states<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Pentagon has not said why providing hormone therapy would be a problem for transgender troops, but not the rest of the force, though the executive order instituting the ban said that \u201cradical gender ideology\u201d was harmful to troop cohesion.<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Hegseth\u2019s recommendation that male service members take testosterone makes crystal clear that the policy banning transgender troops for taking the same medication is pure bias,\u201d said Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for LGBTQ Rights. \u201cThis is a blatant double standard and underscores the irrationality of the ban.\u201d<\/p>\n