Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
Flag of an under secretary of defense
Incumbent Anthony Tata since 18 July 2025
Department of Defense
Abbreviation	USD (P&R)
Member of	Office of the Secretary of Defense
Reports to	Secretary of Defense
Appointer	Thepresident withSenateadvice and consent
Term length	At the pleasure of the president
Formation	16 March 1994 (1994-03-16)
First holder	Edwin Dorn
Salary	$165,300
Website	Official website

Theunder secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, orUSD (P&R) is a high-ranking civilian position in theOffice of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) within theUnited States Department of Defense responsible for advising thesecretary anddeputy secretary of defense onrecruitment,career development, pay and benefits, and oversight of the state of military readiness. The under secretary is appointed from civilian life by thepresident and confirmed by theSenate to serve at the pleasure of the President.

Additionally, he exercises day-to-day supervision of the Department of Defense Education Activity and the Defense Commissary Agency.^[1]

TheOffice of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (OUSD(P&R)) is the principal staff element for the Department of Defense for all human resources,human capital development, and personnel logistics matters. The USD(P&R) has oversight of theDefense Commissary Agency,Department of Defense Education Activity,Defense Human Resources Activity, theMilitary Health System, and the Defense Travel Management Office. The USD(P&R) is also responsible for training, health affairs,National Guard andReserve affairs, personnel requirements for weapons support, and military and civilian family matters, subject to the authority of the Secretary of Defense.^[2] Through the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy, theUnited States Military Entrance Processing Command also reports to the Under Secretary.^[3]

With the rank ofUnder Secretary, the USD(P&R) is a Level III position within theExecutive Schedule. Since January 2010, the annual rate of pay for Level III is $165,300.

The position was first mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (P.L. 103-160), signed by PresidentClinton on 30 November 1993.^[4] Defense Directive 5124.2, passed 17 March 1994, officially established the position, incorporating the functions of the Assistant Secretary of Defense(Force Management and Personnel) and authorizing authority over theAssistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs and theAssistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.^[5] Since the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 was signed on 5 October 1999, the Under Secretary has been responsible for establishing standards on deployment of units away from assigned duty stations, the length of time they may be away for adeployment away from assigned duty stations, and for establishing systems for reporting tracking deployments.^[6]

When created in 1993, the USD(P&R) assumed authority primarily over three DoD offices: theAssistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs,Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, andAssistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness and Force Management. The ASD(FMP) has since been abolished, its responsibilities assumed by other officials reporting to the USD(P&R).

Officials reporting to the USD (P&R) include:

• Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
• Military Deputy to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
  • Director, Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity
    • Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute
  • Director, Defense Suicide Prevention Office
  • Director, Personnel Risk Reduction Office
• Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness
• Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
  • Military Health System
  • Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Wounded Warrior Care & Transition Policy
• Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs
  • Director,Defense Commissary Agency
  • Director,Department of Defense Education Activity
  • Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy
  • Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy
  • Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy
  • Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness
  • Director, Office of Total Force Planning & Requirements
  • Director, Transition to Veterans Program Office
• Director,Defense Human Resources Activity
• Director, DoD/VA Collaboration Office

The annual budget for the USD (P&R) is contained in the Office of the Secretary of Defense's (OSD) budget, under the Defense-Wide Operation and Maintenance (O&M) account.

• Contracts and other Support Services - Funds contracts and other support services for mission requirements, including Intergovernmental Personnel Act requirements
• Advancing Diversity and Equal Opportunity Program - Funding to increase the number of people with targeted disabilities in the federal civilian workforce to support the DoD goal of two percent DoD-wide, emphasizing the benefit for wounded service members
• Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) - ASD (HA) is the principal medical staff advisor to the Secretary of Defense and principal program manager for all DoD health matters to include medical readiness, health care delivery, preventive medicine, medical military construction, and the procurement, development, training and retention of medical military and civilian personnel
• Assistant Secretary of Defense (Reserve Affairs) - Funds managed by ASD (RA) are utilized to conduct valuable research and analysis for specific topics and issues that arise related to the National Guard and military Reserve components
• Combatant Commander's Exercise Engagement and Training Transformation (CE2T2) - The program was established as a result of direction from the Quadrennial Defense Review that re-aligned and consolidated joint training programs and applies resulting efficiencies against new mission areas and existing joint training shortfalls
• Defense Safety Oversight Council (DSOC) - Supports safety initiatives to reduce and prevent injuries to Defense Department personnel
• Defense Readiness Reporting System (DRRS) - Allows for quick analysis of force capability issues, effective program oversight, operator training, and data maintenance
• Lost Work Days System - Lost Work Days aims to increase operational readiness by providing data and analysis to eliminate preventable mishaps
• Military Personnel Policy (MPP) Naturalization Support - Funding to payU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in theUnited States Department of Homeland Security to not charge fees to military members applying for naturalization to become US citizens
• Military Spouse Intern Program - Assists eligible spouses of active duty military in obtaining positions in federal agencies by paying the spouses' salary and benefits for the first year of employment
• Studies Program - The Department contracts for assistance in facilitating studies that improve the overall operation and efficiency of the OUSD(P&R) and the programs over which it exercises oversight
• Training Transformation - Provides oversight of the Department's Joint training effort
• Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy (WWCTP) - Funds WWCTP operations that provide OSD-level oversight of the development and implementation of comprehensive disability, non-medical care and case management, and transition programs, policies and standards Department-wide
• Travel - Funds employee travel to support USD(P&R) mission

Under Secretaries of Defense (Personnel and Readiness)^[5]

No.	Portrait	Name	Tenure	Secretary(ies) of Defense Served Under	President(s) Served Under
1		Edwin Dorn	16 March 1994 – 7 July 1997	William Perry	Bill Clinton
				William Cohen
2		Rudy de Leon	5 August 1997 – 31 March 2000
-		Charles Cragin (acting)	31 March 2000 – 23 May 2000
3		Bernard D. Rostker	23 May 2000 – 19 January 2001
-		Charles Cragin (acting)	20 January 2001 – 31 May 2001	Donald Rumsfeld	George W. Bush
4		David S. C. Chu	1 June 2001 – 20 January 2009
				Robert Gates
-		Gail H. McGinn (acting)	21 January 2009 – 8 February 2010		Barack Obama
5		Clifford Stanley	9 February 2010 – 27 October 2011
				Leon Panetta[11][12]
-		Jo Ann Rooney (acting)[13]	27 October 2011 – 8 June 2012
6		Erin C. Conaton[13]	8 June 2012 – 31 December 2012
7		Jessica Wright	1 January 2013 – 31 March 2015
				Chuck Hagel
				Ash Carter
-		Brad Carson (acting)	2 April 2015 – 8 April 2016
-		Peter Levine (acting)	8 April 2016 – 20 January 2017
-		Anthony Kurta (acting)	20 January 2017 – 30 November 2017	Jim Mattis	Donald Trump
8		Robert Wilkie	30 November 2017 – 30 July 2018
-		Stephanie Barna (acting)	30 July 2018 – 22 October 2018
-		James N. Stewart (acting)	22 October 2018 – 13 December 2019
				Mark Esper
-		Matthew Donovan (acting)	13 December 2019 – 2 March 2020
-		Alexis Lasselle Ross (acting)	3 March 2020 – 23 March 2020
9		Matthew Donovan	23 March 2020 – 20 January 2021
-		Virginia S. Penrod (acting)	20 January 2021 – 24 August 2021[14]	Lloyd Austin	Joe Biden
10		Gil Cisneros	24 August 2021 – 8 September 2023
-		Ashish Vazirani (acting)	8 September 2023 – 20 January 2025
-		Darin Selnick (acting)	20 January 2025 – 17 March 2025	Pete Hegseth	Donald Trump
-		Jules W. Hurst III (acting)	17 March 2025 – 18 July 2025
11		Anthony Tata	18 July 2025 –Present

ThePrincipal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (PDUSD(P&R)) is the Under Secretary's chief staff assistant. PDUSD (P&R) is delegated full power and authority to act for the USD(P&R) and exercise the powers of the USD(P&R) on any and all matters that the USD(P&R) is authorized to act, except in those areas where delegation of the USD(P&R) authority is otherwise restricted by higher authority or prohibited by law.

Established as theDeputy Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) by theNational Defense Authorization Act for FY 2002 (P.L. 107-107), the post took over the duties of theAssistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy, which was then abolished. The DUSD(P&R) was re-designatedPrincipal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness), or PDUSD(P&R) in July 2003 by DoD Directive 5124.8.^[5] As of 2012, the position again holds the rank of Principal Deputy Under Secretary.

• United States under secretaries of defense

• Source attribution
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from July 2018