Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

The Under Secretary 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.cite web | title="DefenseLink Biography: DR. DAVID S. C. CHU" | url=http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/biographydetail.aspx?biographyid=93 | accessdate= September 21 | accessyear= 2007 ]

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. [cite web | title="US CODE: Title 10,136. Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness" | url=http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode10/usc_sec_10_00000136----000-.html | accessdate= September 21 | accessyear= 2007 ]

The position was first established when the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 was signed by President Clinton on November 30, 1993. [cite web | title="H.R.2401" | url=http://www.law.cornell.edu/usc-cgi/get_external.cgi?type=pubL&target=103-160 | accessdate= September 21 | accessyear= 2007 ] 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. [cite web | title="S.1059" | url=http://www.law.cornell.edu/usc-cgi/get_external.cgi?type=pubL&target=106-65 | accessdate= September 21 | accessyear= 2007 ] The "Personnel and Readiness" component of the Department of Defense is sometimes abbreviated to "P&R." [cite web | title="About P&R" | url=http://www.defenselink.mil/prhome/about.html | accessdate= November 22 | accessyear= 2005 ]

Former Under Secretaries of Defense for Personnel and Readiness include Bernard Rostker and Rudy de Leon. [cite web | title="ROSTKER SLATED FOR TOP PENTAGON PERSONNEL AND READINESS POSITION" | url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pden/is_200001/ai_2932943728 | accessdate= September 21 | accessyear= 2007 ] [cite web | title="THE HONORABLE BERNARD D. ROSTKER" | url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051122154321/http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/rostker_bio.html | accessdate= November 22 | accessyear= 2005 ]

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