Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

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Under Secretary of Defense Dr. David S. C. Chu

The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness is a high-ranking position in the United States Department of Defense responsible for advising the Secretary of Defense on recruitment, career development, pay and benefits, and oversight of the state of military readiness. The Under Secretary is appointed from civilian life by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The current Under Secretary is David S. C. Chu, who was sworn in on June 1, 2001.

The Under Secretary has oversight of the Defense Health Program, Defense Commissaries and Exchanges, Defense Education Activity, and the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute. The Under Secretary is also responsible for training, health affairs, National Guard and Reserve affairs, personnel requirements for weapons support, and military and civilian family matters, subject to the authority of the Secretary of Defense.

The position was first established when the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 was signed by President Clinton on November 30, 1993. Since the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 was signed on October 5, 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 a deployment away from assigned duty stations, and for establishing systems for reporting tracking deployments. The "Personnel and Readiness" component of the Department of Defense is sometimes abbreviated to "P&R."

Former Under Secretaries of Defense for Personnel and Readiness include Bernard Rostker and Rudy de Leon.