JULY 16, 2026 – Achieving peace through strength demands a decisively dominant force. Our military advantage and our readiness depend directly on the performance of the Department’s most critical asset: our Warfighters. We maintain our weapon systems and equipment with precision, discipline, and accountability, yet we do not currently manage Warfighter performance with that same level of rigor. That gap directly impacts readiness, increases operational risk, and limits our lethality and effectiveness.
Warfighter Performance Optimization (WPO) is the Department’s approach to closing this gap. By building on and modernizing the principles of Total Force Fitness (TFF), WPO will deliver a unified operational approach to accelerate readiness, dominance, and peak performance across the Force. We will treat the Warfighter as a readiness capability, held to the same disciplined evaluation, maintenance, and optimization we demand of every asset that preserves combat power.
To maintain warfighting mastery and advance a unified WPO approach that keeps our teams cognitively sharp, physically capable, and dominant over time, the Department will:
- Uphold Commanders’ Unwavering Responsibility. We have entrusted our Commanders with the Nation’s most vital asset – the American Warfighter. The Commissioned and Non-Commissioned Officers leading our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Guardians hold direct responsibility for the physical fitness, mental acuity, and combat focus of their teams. WPO will provide leaders with the data, tools, capabilities, and resources required to understand Warfighter performance, anticipate degradation, and take necessary actions.
- Accelerate WPO Technology and Innovation. The Department will create a rapid pipeline to identify, validate, and scale innovations and capabilities that give our warfighting teams a decisive edge. This means aggressively fielding data analytics, wearables, and cutting-edge technologies across modernized TFF domains that improve performance in demanding operational environments, not just in a lab.
- Elevate Cognitive Performance as Key to Readiness. On the modern battlefield, decision-making, attention, and cognitive endurance are as critical as physical fitness. The Department will establish cognitive performance as a core occupational readiness competency, measuring and managing it with the same attention and discipline we apply to our physical standards. We will mitigate brain health risks that erode cognitive performance and leverage tactics, techniques, and procedures to train and optimize Warfighter cognition.
- Invest in Lethality. Our investment in WPO hinges on a concerted effort to maximize the readiness and lethality of our Warfighting teams. The Department will bring visibility to Warfighter performance investments, manage these programs as a unified portfolio, and allocate funding to proven, force-multiplying capabilities. We will integrate WPO priorities directly into the Department’s planning, programming, and budgeting process to ensure sustained, focused, and properly aligned resourcing.
Drawing upon the best practices across the Department, I direct the Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness (USW(P&R)), in coordination with the Military Departments and Services, Joint Staff, and supporting Do W Components, to submit a report within 60 days to assess existing initiatives and capabilities contributing to Warfighter performance optimization across the Force. This report should identify actions to equip our Service members and leaders with the tools, data, and resources necessary to meet and exceed readiness standards and to maximize their lethality and effectiveness. To that end, the USW(P&R) will issue a coordinated action plan to drive comprehensive WPO and TFF across the Department.
The Department will act now to achieve this vision – driving forward the fundamental shifts already underway – from restoring uncompromising fitness standards to revitalizing the Chaplain Corps that anchors the moral and spiritual strength of the force. These are not cosmetic changes; they are a return to what makes the American W arfighter lethal, resilient, and unbreakable. I therefore expect every leader, from the fire team leader to the four-star general, to own this responsibility. Your first duty is to forge a disciplined, lethal team ready to deploy, fight, and win whenever our Nation calls. There is no other standard – and there never will be.