Hegseth Orders Annual Testosterone Screening for Troops 30 and Older, Calls It a Readiness Measure

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that the Pentagon will start screening service members 30 and older for testosterone deficiency every year, folding the test into the periodic health assessment troops already complete annually.

"I'm authorizing a new screening program for testosterone deficiency for our service members, ensuring you have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best," Hegseth said in a video posted to X, captioned "The High-T Department of War."

Troops under 30 can request the screening voluntarily. For those 30 and up, it's mandatory. Nothing else about the existing health assessment changes, according to Hegseth. This is one new test bolted onto a process that's been required force-wide since 2016.

If a screening turns up low testosterone, treatment is optional. "If treatment is recommended, it's entirely your choice to receive testosterone replacement therapy," Hegseth said.

He was careful to frame this as restoration, not enhancement. "This initiative, it's not about artificial enhancement," he said. "It's about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity, ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain the fight."

What the science actually says

Testosterone decline with age is real and well documented. The Mayo Clinic puts the drop at roughly 1% a year starting around 30 to 40, according to reporting from Military.com. That's considered a normal part of aging, not a disease by itself.

A genuine deficiency can cause fatigue, reduced muscle strength, lower libido or depression. Medical groups generally recommend treatment only when low testosterone is confirmed by blood work AND the person has symptoms, not just a number on a lab report. Research cited in the reporting suggests roughly one in four men over 30 has low testosterone levels, but only about one in 20 show noticeable symptoms. That gap matters: a screening program built for the entire eligible force could flag a lot of men who never needed treatment in the first place.

The FDA does not approve testosterone replacement therapy for men whose low levels are simply a byproduct of normal aging, according to Military.com. That's a real gap between the department's stated goal and what regulators actually sign off on for that specific population.

The context Hegseth left out

The Associated Press, via PBS, noted that the Pentagon did not respond to questions about what research or academic studies underpinned the policy. The department also wouldn't say whether female troops, who make up roughly 17% of active duty personnel according to Forbes, will get any equivalent screening for estrogen-related changes like perimenopause. Hegseth's video referred generically to "troops" but every specific he gave was about testosterone, effectively a men's-only initiative left unstated as such.

If the department is building a permanent screening infrastructure into the annual health assessment, leaving out language on how it applies, or doesn't, to women in uniform is either sloppy communication or a deliberate signal about who this policy is really for.

The AP also flagged this context: the policy isn't happening in a vacuum. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other Trump administration officials have been pushing to make testosterone replacement therapy more accessible generally. Forbes noted RFK Jr. said in January that Dr. Mehmet Oz, who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told him President Trump has "the highest testosterone level that he's ever seen for an individual over 70 years old." The FDA is separately weighing whether to expand TRT approval for men with low sex drive and no identifiable cause for their low levels, according to Forbes.

This is part of a broader pattern under Hegseth. He's pushed to require all combat troops meet the "highest male standard only" on new fitness tests, according to Forbes, and has been openly skeptical of women in combat roles going back to a November 2024 podcast appearance where he said men "are more capable" in those positions. He's also been blunt about pushing out transgender service members, telling troops in a May 2025 speech the department was done with "no more dudes in dresses."

The fair question and the fair defense

The strongest case for the policy, as Hegseth frames it, is straightforward: undiagnosed hormone deficiencies genuinely degrade strength, endurance and mental sharpness, and catching them early through a test troops are already taking anyway costs almost nothing extra. Treatment stays voluntary, so nobody is forced onto therapy against their will. That's a reasonable, low-cost addition to an existing checkup.

The fair critique is that the department hasn't shown its work. No cited research, no explanation of why this rises to a force-wide mandate now, and no clarity on whether women get anything comparable. Military.com reported the Defense Department "declined to comment further" when asked how the screening will actually be implemented across the services, and Hegseth didn't say when the program starts.

Given the military's recent history with hormone-related substance abuse in special operations, including the 2022 death of a Navy SEAL recruit that led to a 2023 hormone drug-testing crackdown reported by the AP, the department has real reason to get its messaging and safeguards right. So far, it hasn't said much about either.