Activism

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered mandatory testosterone screening for all active-duty service members 30 and older, framing the program in a video posted Wednesday as essential to keeping troops on the "leading edge of lethality."

The new screening will be added to the annual health assessment soldiers already complete each year, Hegseth announced on his official X account.

Service members under 30 may request the test voluntarily, according to the video, while those over 30 will not have a choice. If a deficiency is found, testosterone replacement therapy — a medical treatment to restore hormone levels — remains optional.

"The High-T Department of War," Hegseth wrote on X alongside the video.

"This initiative — it's not about artificial enhancement," Hegseth said in the video. "It's about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities."

The announcement is the latest in a string of body-focused mandates Hegseth has imposed on the force since taking office, Newsweek reported.

Last September, he assembled hundreds of generals and admirals at Quantico to declare the Pentagon's softer era finished.

"We're empowering drill sergeants to instill healthy fear in new recruits," Hegseth told the assembled brass. He also codified mandatory daily physical training for every service member and imposed the "highest male standard only" for all combat roles, acknowledging the change would push women out of those jobs.

Those same Quantico memos cut cybersecurity and privacy training requirements — even as Wednesday's order adds a new medical test to the annual calendar, Hegseth's office confirmed.

Last September, he also declared "no more beardos" and banned most shaving exemptions. But during a June visit to a Navy ship, he found multiple sailors still wearing beards and left the vessel pressing officials to enforce the policy more aggressively, CNN reported.

Sailors with razor bumps — a painful shaving condition that affects an estimated 60 percent of Black men — face discharge if they cannot resolve it within a year, the Navy announced this month.

"We owe our warriors the absolute best medical care in the world," Hegseth said in Wednesday's video, "and this program delivers on that obligation."