The Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness is the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense for Total Force Management as it relates to readiness; National Guard and Reserve component affairs; health affairs; training; and personnel requirements and management, including equal opportunity, morale, welfare, recreation, and quality of life matters.
A Presidential appointee confirmed by the Senate, he is the Secretary's senior policy advisor on recruitment, career development, pay and benefits for 1.4 million active duty military personnel, 1.3 million Guard and Reserve personnel and 680,000 DoD civilians and is responsible for overseeing the state of military readiness.
The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and
Readiness also oversees the $15 billion Defense
Health Program, Defense Commissaries
and Exchanges with $14.5 billion in annual sales, the Defense
Education Activity which supports over 100,000 students,
and the Defense
Equal Opportunity Management Institute, the nation's largest
equal opportunity training program.
