Huh?! Pete Hegseth Announces Bizarre New Health Screening For Service Members

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday announced a new program that would introduce regular testosterone testing and the option for testosterone replacement therapies for service members (or “warfighters” as he repeatedly called them).

“At the Department of War, we have the most elite warriors on the face of the earth. Every single day, you are pushed to your absolute physical and mental limit to master the profession of arms. We demand your all, and you give it,” Hegseth said in the video shared on social media with the caption “High T Department of War.”

“But while we invest heavily in our weapons systems platforms and gear, our most decisive tactical advantage will always be the individual warfighter. We have a sacred duty to maintain that advantage, which is why we must constantly look for new ways to optimize your performance, your resilience and your long-term health,” Hegseth continued. “And to meet that commitment today, 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.”

The High-T Department of War. pic.twitter.com/hlAUq3j2cD

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) July 15, 2026

Citing “well-established science” around aging and testosterone levels, Hegseth said that service members “age 30 and older are going to be tested annually as part of their periodic health assessments.”

“Those under 30 can voluntarily choose to get the test as well,” he added. “If treatment is recommended, it’s entirely your choice to receive testosterone replacement therapy.”

Hegseth said the push to provide this care was “not about artificial enhancements. It’s about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities.”

This isn’t the first time the “manosphere” language around testosterone has seeped its way into political conversations. Earlier this year, there was a great deal of praise surrounding President Donald Trump’s reported testosterone levels from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“Dr. Oz looked at his medical records and said he’s got the highest testosterone levels that he’s ever seen for an individual over 70 years old,” Kennedy said on Katie Miller’s podcast as they discussed the president’s diet. “I know the president will be happy that I repeat that.”

Given Kennedy’s own tendency to bring up testosterone levels and sperm counts without solicitation, the narrative around testosterone seems to have taken its own place in MAGA/MAHA lore.

Some might call this ‘gender affirming care,’ some might call it unnecessary.

Testosterone replacement therapies (TRT) have been on the rise in recent years, with prescriptions for treatment climbing from 7.3 million in 2019 to more than 11 million in 2024.

In 2018, the American Urological Association (AUA) said that there were some challenges in ensuring that TRT was given to people who actually need it, finding that up to one-third of men who were placed on testosterone therapy did not “meet the criteria to be diagnosed as testosterone deficient.”

“There are many men using testosterone without a clear indication,” per the AUA. “Some studies estimate that up to 25% of men who receive testosterone therapy do not have their testosterone tested prior to initiation of treatment. Of men who are treated with testosterone, nearly half do not have their testosterone levels checked after therapy commences.”

It should be noted that there are still legitimate safety concerns regarding TRT, according to resources on the Harvard Medical School site. Experts said that patients should take a cautious approach to these therapies, particularly “if you are at high risk for prostate cancer; have severe urinary symptoms from prostate enlargement; or have diagnosed heart disease, a previous heart attack, or multiple risk factors for heart problems.”

The Harvard Medical School blog also noted a risk in taking these treatments indefinitely.

“There is a bit of a testosterone trap. Men get started on testosterone replacement and they feel better, but then it’s hard to come off of it,” the site noted. “On treatment, the body stops making testosterone. Men can often feel a big difference when they stop therapy because their body’s testosterone production has not yet recovered.”

For the demographic of men in their 30s and 40s in active military service, the benefit of using these therapies remains unclear.

As for counteracting the “natural aging” that Hegseth mentioned, there’s a sobering reality. According to Harvard Medical School: “Testosterone therapy is not a fountain of youth. There is no proof that it will restore you to the level of physical fitness or sexual function of your youth, make you live longer, prevent heart disease or prostate cancer, or improve your memory or mental sharpness.”

Poke at the MAGA testosterone obsession a little more, and you’ll find masculinity theater.

For many experts, the testosterone obsession in MAGA circles is less a matter of health and wellness and more a performance of masculinity for one another.

Soraya Chemaly, author of “All We Want Is Everything: How We Dismantle Male Supremacy,” previously told HuffPost that a “militant masculinity of a representative American man who is white, dominant, powerful, physically fit and attractive” continues to be the ideal of the MAGA set — often intentionally leaving little room for other kinds of masculinity to emerge.

“They are really explicit displays of individual physical strength, but at the same time, they’re symbolic: These men represent the government. They represent the nation,” she said. “They represent Trump’s ideal in particular, the right-wing ideals of manhood and masculinity.”

Testosterone levels have become just another piece of that performance.

“Testosterone levels have been a part of the discussion in the so-called ‘manosphere’ for years at this point,” Collin Anderson, a clinical assistant professor in the political science department at the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, previously told HuffPost.

A “High T” individual is considered highly masculine — regardless of what each body uniquely needs to be at its healthiest — while “low-testosterone” is often used as an insult. (See the many ways in which the MAGA-sphere has discussed Senate candidate James Talarico.)

Martin Naunov, assistant professor of political science and a faculty associate at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University, previously identified the origins of these insults as a “fringe message-board conspiracy” that broke containment following Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s comments about his rival, Talarico.

Naunov said that the “fixation on gender/masculinity — and on testosterone as its biological stand-in — has clearly intensified and gone mainstream.” He noted how the actual science on declining testosterone in recent decades had been twisted to place blame on “feminists and LGBTQ people rather than in, say, staggering economic inequality.” Naunov also cited “a federal push to expand testosterone access” (and an increase in prescriptions). Leaders like Vice President JD Vance have also tied “low testosterone to liberal politics.”

“Testosterone levels have declined somewhat over recent decades, and that real trend has been seized as a symbol: proof that men are getting weaker, softer, that masculinity itself is in decline,” he said. “Testosterone slots neatly into that frame as the proposed antidote — the miracle injection that reverses the ‘emasculating’ effects of liberal modernity. It’s a biological answer to what is really a political and economic grievance.”