Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

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Under Secretary of Defense
for Personnel and Readiness
Flag of the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense.svg
Flag of an Under Secretary of Defense
Darin S. Selnick.jpg
Incumbent
Darin Selnick
Acting  
since January 20, 2025
Department of Defense
AbbreviationUSD (P&R)
Member of Office of the Secretary of Defense
Reports to Secretary of Defense
AppointerThe President
with Senate advice and consent
Term length At the pleasure of the President
Formation16 March 1994 (1994-03-16)
First holder Edwin Dorn
Salary$165,300
Website Official website

The under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, or USD (P&R) is a high-ranking civilian position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) within the United States Department of Defense responsible for advising the secretary and deputy 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 to serve at the pleasure of the President.

Contents

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

Overview

The Office 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 the Defense Commissary Agency, Department of Defense Education Activity, Defense Human Resources Activity, the Military Health System, and the Defense Travel Management Office. The USD(P&R) 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. [2] Through the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy, the United States Military Entrance Processing Command also reports to the Under Secretary. [3]

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

History

The position was first mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (P.L. 103-160), signed by President Clinton 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 the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs and the Assistant 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 a deployment 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: the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy. The ASD(FMP) has since been abolished, its responsibilities assumed by other officials reporting to the USD(P&R).

Reporting officials

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

Budget

Budget totals

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.

USD Personnel and Readiness Budget, FY 10-12 ($ in thousands) [7]
Line ItemFY10 ActualFY11 EstimateFY12 Request
Core OSD Operating Program [8]
Civilian Pay and Benefits, USD (P&R)23,68835,45724,816
Program Structure [9]
Contracts and other Support Services1,0001,007995
Advancing Diversity and Equal Opportunity Program8,5008,9259,667
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs)2,2192,3931,131
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Reserve Affairs)2,3642,6912,018
Combatant Commander's Exercise688,632760,837766,450
Defense Safety Oversight Council10,69212,61512,550
Defense Readiness Reporting System13,3546,9003,882
Lost Work Days System3,2303,0603,032
Military Personnel Policy Naturalization Support5,7996,3456,463
Military Spouse Intern Program017,50016,689
Studies Program02,8202,792
Training Transformation6,5636,0355,112
Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy43,66479,41277,623
Travel1,3381,402817
Overseas Contingency Operations [10]
OCO OUSD (Intel)2,06400
Totals
Total Budget813,107947,399934,037

Budget features

Office holders

Under Secretaries of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) [5]
No.PortraitNameTenureSecretary(ies) of Defense Served UnderPresident(s) Served Under
1 Portrait of Edwin Dorn, Under Secretary of Defense, Personnel and Readiness.jpg Edwin Dorn 16 March 1994 – 7 July 1997 William Perry Bill Clinton
William Cohen
2 Rudy de Leon, official military photo, 1997.jpg Rudy de Leon 5 August 1997 – 31 March 2000
- Defense.gov News Photo 970912-A-3569D-001.jpg Charles Cragin (acting)31 March 2000 – 23 May 2000
3 Bernard Rostker.jpg Bernard D. Rostker 23 May 2000 – 19 January 2001
4 Dr David S C Chu.jpg David S. C. Chu 1 June 2001 – 20 January 2009 Donald Rumsfeld George W. Bush
Robert Gates
-Gail H. McGinn (acting)21 January 2009 – 8 February 2010 Barack Obama
5 Stanley Clifford.JPG Clifford Stanley 9 February 2010 – 27 October 2011
Leon Panetta [11] [12]
- JoAnnRooney.jpg Jo Ann Rooney (acting) [13] 27 October 2011 – 8 June 2012
6 Erin C. Conaton USDPR.jpg Erin C. Conaton [13] 8 June 2012 – 31 December 2012
7 Jessica Wright DOD 2012 photo.jpg Jessica Wright 1 January 2013 – 31 March 2015
Chuck Hagel
Ash Carter
- Brad carson23.jpg Brad Carson (acting)2 April 2015 – 8 April 2016
- Peter Levine (DOD) Headshot.JPG Peter Levine (acting)8 April 2016 – 20 January 2017
- Anthony Kurta (cropped).jpg Anthony Kurta (acting)20 January 2017 – 30 November 2017 Jim Mattis Donald Trump
8 Robert Wilkie official photo (cropped).jpg Robert Wilkie 30 November 2017 – 30 July 2018
- Stephanie Barna.jpg Stephanie Barna (acting)30 July 2018 – 22 October 2018
- James N. Stewart official photo (cropped).jpg James N. Stewart (acting)22 October 2018 – 13 December 2019
Mark Esper
- Donovan PTDO USD P-R.jpg Matthew Donovan (acting)13 December 2019 – 2 March 2020
- Alexis Lasselle Ross Picture.png Alexis Lasselle Ross (acting)3 March 2020 – 23 March 2020
9 Donovan PTDO USD P-R.jpg Matthew Donovan 23 March 2020 – 20 January 2021
- Virginia S. Penrod (2).jpg Virginia S. Penrod (acting)20 January 2021 – 24 August 2021 [14] Lloyd Austin Joe Biden
10 Gilbert Cisneros, Under Secretary of Defense.jpg Gil Cisneros 24 August 2021 – 8 September 2023
- Ashish Vazirani, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense.jpg Ashish Vazirani (acting)8 September 2023 – 20 January 2025
- Darin S. Selnick.jpg Darin Selnick (acting)20 January 2025 - Present Pete Hegseth Donald Trump

Principal Deputy

The Principal 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 the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) by the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2002 (P.L. 107-107), the post took over the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy, which was then abolished. The DUSD(P&R) was re-designated Principal 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.

Principal Deputy Under Secretaries of Defense for Personnel and Readiness [5]
NameTenureUSD(P&R) served underSecDef(s) served underPresident(s) served under
Charles S. Abell14 November 2002 – 11 July 2006 David S. C. Chu Donald H. Rumsfeld George W. Bush
Michael L. Dominguez11 July 2006 – 20 January 2009
William J. Carr (acting)20 January 2009 – 8 February 2010Michael L. Dominguez (acting) Robert M. Gates Barack Obama
Lynn C. Simpson (performing the duties of)8 February 2010 – 2 June 2011Gail McGinn (acting)
Jo Ann Rooney2 June 2011 - 24 May 2012 Clifford Stanley Leon Panetta
Vacant24 May 2012 – 30 July 2014 Jessica L. Wright (acting) Chuck Hagel
Laura Junor31 July 2014 – May 2015Jessica L. Wright
Brad Carson (acting)
Chuck Hagel
Ashton Carter
Stephanie Barna (acting)April 8, 2016 – January 20, 2017Peter Levine (acting) Ashton Carter
William G. Bushman (performing the duties of)29 June 2019 – 20 January 2021 James N. Stewart (acting)
Matthew Donovan (acting)
Alexis Lasselle Ross (acting)
Matthew Donovan
Mark Esper Donald Trump
Julie Blanks (performing the duties of)20 January 2021 – 13 July 2022Virginia S. Penrod (acting)
Gil Cisneros
Lloyd Austin Joe Biden
Ashish Vazirani13 July 2022 – 20 January 2025Gil Cisneros
Jules W. Hurst III (performing the duties of)20 January 2025 – PresentDarin Selnick (acting) Pete Hegseth Donald Trump

References

  1. "OSD P&R Leadership". prhome.defense.gov. Retrieved 17 October 2019.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  2. "US Code: Title 10,136. Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness" . Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  3. http://prhome.defense.gov/MPP/, accessed June 2010
  4. "H.R.2401" . Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Department of Defense Key Officials" (PDF). Historical Office, OSD. 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  6. "S.1059" . Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  7. "Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Budget Estimates, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD)" (PDF). Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), OSD. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  8. Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Budget Estimates, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), p.664
  9. Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Budget Estimates, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), p.697-707
  10. Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Budget Estimates, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), p.714
  11. "Biographies". U.S. Department of Defense.
  12. "OSD P&R; Biographies: Hon. Erin C. Conaton". Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness". prhome.defense.gov.
  14. "Virginia Penrod". www.linkedin.com.