Pete Hegseth announced [on July 15, 2026] that the Department of Defense will offer testosterone deficiency screening for soldiers 30 and older.
The US defense secretary unveiled plans for a new screening program for testosterone deficiency among troops that will work to ensure service members have the “right testosterone levels” to perform at their optimal condition in a video posted to X.
“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 the video.
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Hegseth is not the first member of the Trump administration to address the so-called “crisis” of low testosterone, or “low T”. Robert F Kennedy Jr, the 72-year-old health secretary, has spoken about injecting testosterone as part of his personal “anti-ageing regimen”. In October, he warned, without evidence, that today’s American teenagers have “50% of the testosterone of a 65-year-old man”.
Related on the SLP
Testosterone, and concerns about a shortage thereof, has become a political fixation on the right. Alternative media commentators such as Tucker Carlson have decried a crisis of masculinity in films such as The End of Men, while influencers promote “T-maxxing” and direct-to-consumer testosterone injections.
In a statement, the American Urological Association said it “appreciates the Administration’s understanding of the importance of screening men for testosterone deficiency”, although “the diagnosis of testosterone deficiency should not be based on a single blood test alone.”
