United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s plan to boost testosterone levels among American troops is not off to the smoothest start.
This week, the Pentagon issued and then quickly revoked its clinical guidance for Hegseth’s mandatory testosterone screening policy. The policy, announced earlier this summer, will call for all service members 30 and older to have their testosterone levels measured as part of the annual check-up. The Pentagon has stated that the guidance was only temporarily pulled but has not clarified exactly why nor when it will be reissued. Reuters was the first to report on the sudden about-face.
“The draft ‘Clinical Guidance for Health and Human Performance Optimization’ published on September 2, 2026, has been temporarily rescinded to allow for updates,” a Pentagon official told Gizmodo in an email Friday, reiterating the same comments provided to Reuters.
Screening for low T
Hegseth announced the plan in mid-July with all the bombastic flair you’d expect from the Trump administration. In an X post titled “The High-T Department of War” with an accompanying video, Hegseth stated: “We owe our warriors the absolute best medical care in the world, and this program delivers on that obligation.”
The screening is ostensibly meant to detect cases of testosterone deficiency, also known as hypogonadism. People with hypogonadism can experience disruptive symptoms like fatigue, osteoporosis, and low sex drive, and they commonly benefit from testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). More recent research has also allayed earlier worries that TRT can cause serious complications like heart attack and stroke.
That said, many experts have criticized the logic behind Hegseth’s universal screening plan. Up to a third of men placed on TRT today don’t actually meet the criteria for testosterone deficiency, according to the American Urological Association, while up to 25% of men aren’t even tested for their T levels prior to treatment. And though generally safe, long-term TRT can increase the odds of lasting infertility, which is why the AUA cautions younger men who still want children to be especially careful about going on it.
The link between testosterone and men’s health and aging is also more complicated than many supporters of TRT—a group that includes our current health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—might want it to be. And though low T can be a real health problem that TRT helps address, it’s certainly possible many service members screened in the program could wind up receiving medical care they don’t truly need.
“Taking testosterone is not going to make you more manly, more strong, or a more robust individual. That’s just not how it works,” Jason Goldman, an internal medicine physician and past president of the American College of Physicians, told Reuters. “It’s just bad policy all around.”
On Wednesday, the Pentagon posted its clinical guidance for how the plan would be implemented on its website, including the recommended next steps for people to take if they tested positive for low T, along with an accompanying statement from spokesperson Sean Parnell. But by Thursday, the guidance and statement were removed with no explanation. Right now, the links only result in a 404 error page.
What happens now?
The Pentagon notes that interim guidance regarding the policy remains in effect. And opening stumble aside, it appears that the screening program is still going to be fully implemented.
“The Department remains committed to addressing hormone deficiencies, protecting the long-term health of its Service members, and enabling peak operational performance,” the Pentagon official told Gizmodo.
Regarding the timeline for the final version of the guidance, the official stated only that it would be “issued shortly.”
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