---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 136"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "136"
heading: "Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/136"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part I — Organization and General Military Powers"
  - "Chapter 4 — Office of the Secretary of Defense"
---

# §136. Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

- (a) There is an Under [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, appointed from civilian life by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. A [person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2) may not be appointed as Under [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) within seven years after relief from [active duty](/usc/10/101.md?p=d-1) as a [commissioned officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-2) of a [regular](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-12) [component](/usc/10/3011.md?p=13) of an armed force.
- (b) Subject to the authority, direction, and control of the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense, the Under [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense for Personnel and Readiness shall perform such duties and exercise such powers as the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense may prescribe in the areas of [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) readiness, total force management, [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) and civilian personnel requirements, [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) and civilian personnel [training](/usc/10/301.md?p=9), [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) and civilian family matters, exchange, commissary, and nonappropriated fund activities, personnel requirements for weapons support, [National Guard](/usc/10/101.md?p=c-1) and [reserve](/usc/10/101.md?p=c-6) [components](/usc/10/3011.md?p=13), and health affairs.
- (c) The Under [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense for Personnel and Readiness takes precedence in the [Department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) of Defense after the Under [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense (Comptroller).
- (d) The Under [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense for Personnel and Readiness is responsible, subject to the authority, direction, and control of the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense, for the monitoring of the operations tempo and personnel tempo of the [armed forces](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-4). The Under [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) shall establish, to the extent practicable, uniform [standards](/usc/10/3011.md?p=3) within the [Department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) of Defense for terminology and policies relating to deployment of units and personnel away from their assigned duty stations (including the length of time units or personnel may be away for such a deployment) and shall establish uniform reporting systems for tracking deployments.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 103–160, div. A, title IX, § 903(a), Nov. 30, 1993, 107 Stat. 1727; amended Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title XV, § 1503(a)(2), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 510; Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title IX, § 923(a), title X, § 1066(a)(1), Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 724, 770; Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title IX, § 904(2), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1512; Pub. L. 117–81, div. A, title IX, § 901(f)(2), Dec. 27, 2021, 135 Stat. 1868.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Prior Provisions

A prior section 136 was renumbered section 138 of this title.

### Amendments

2021—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 117–81 substituted “an armed force” for “the armed forces”.

2017—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–91 inserted at end “A person may not be appointed as Under Secretary within seven years after relief from active duty as a commissioned officer of a regular component of the armed forces.”

1999—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 106–65, § 1066(a)(1), inserted “advice and” after “by and with the”.

Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 106–65, § 923(a), added subsec. (d).

1996—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104–106 substituted “Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)” for “Comptroller”.