I Can’t Believe This New Hegseth Proposal Isn’t a Parody
Slate · L · trust 53/100
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When I read on Wednesday that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will start testing U.S. service members for testosterone deficiency, I thought it was an internet joke, maybe a post from the Onion, a play on Dr. Strangelove ‘s Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper ranting against fluoride as a Communist plot to sap our precious bodily fluids.
But no, it turns out there’s a video , which seems to be real, of the former Fox News host and Army major announcing annual tests of all members of the armed forces over the age of 30—and testosterone shots for those who score low—as a way of “restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities” and retaining our military’s “leading edge of lethality.” He claims that “our most decisive tactical advantage will always be the individual Warfighter.” Hence his new slogan: “ The High-T Department of War .”
Hegseth has spouted a lot of rubbish in his 18 months as the Pentagon’s top civilian and the Trump administration’s keenest war hawk, but this one may top the pile: It’s ill-informed on every level and, in some ways, dangerous.
For all his “High-T” bluster ( Colin Jost’s portrayal of him on Saturday Night Live is just barely parody), Hegseth doesn’t seem to have much understanding of testosterone. First, according to a Harvard Medical School study, blood levels of testosterone can “vary dramatically over time and even during the course of a day”; thus a single test showing abnormal levels (too high or too low) “may actually be unrelated to this hormone.” Besides, the study notes, there’s no clear notion of what a “normal” level is.
Second, a vast study by the National Institutes of Health concluded that, in young to middle-aged males, “testosterone levels are positively associated with muscle mass but not with muscle strength ” (italics added). Dr. Stuart Weiss, a Manhattan endocrinologist, elaborated in an email: “Bigger muscles are not necessarily stronger.” To the extent, then, that a stronger soldier is a more lethal soldier (as Hegseth seems to assume), jacking up testosterone levels won’t necessarily get you there.
Third, the Food and Drug Administration last year added a label to testosterone-boosting drugs (which Hegseth wants troops with low levels to take), warning that they increase the chance of high blood pressure and blood clots. Also, according to Weiss, testosterone injections can cause “aggressive behavior and mood swings, especially during peak serum levels.” (Though Weiss didn’t say as much, it’s worth asking whether Hegseth is taking T shots. Could this explain his rowdier behavior, or that of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who says that he does inject the stuff regularly?)
But the main fallacy in Hegseth’s latest campaign is that, even if his assumptions about testosterone were correct, they have little to do with the nature of modern warfare or the talents, abilities, or “lethality” of a modern “warfighter.” There are exceptions here. All other things equal, a low testosterone level may inhibit the intensity or endurance of someone in Special Operations (like the SEALs) or infantry or some branch of logistics that involves lifting a lot of heavy objects. But for most other military jobs, it has no effect at all. This is particularly true of service members engaged in the realms that are defining a new era in warfare —drone operators, A.I. programmers, and those managing the coordination of intelligence assets, communications networks, and the synchronization of missile launches and aircraft overflights. Far more relevant, and increasingly so for wars of the future, would be a knowledge of strategy and science—precisely the enterprises that Hegseth has discouraged, even barred , U.S. officers from pursuing.
My guess is that, even in the current war in Iran, how well American warfighters are doing their jobs has little to do with their ability to drop and give Hegseth 100 pushups or a five-minute plank.
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