The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (ASD(HA)) is chartered under

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

Directive (DoDD) 5136.1 in 1994. This DoDD states that the ASD(HA) is the principal advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Defense on all "DoD health policies, programs and activities." In addition to exercising oversight of all DoD health resources, ASD(HA) serves as director of the Tricare Management Activity. The ASD(HA) reports to the Undersecretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness), or USD(P&R). A political appointee responsible for the United States Department of Defense's Military Health Syste

the ASD(HA) is a
Executive Service Level IV
official. He or she is nominated by the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

, and confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

History

This position was originally established in 1949 as the ''Chairman, Armed Forces Medical Policy Council.'' Reorganization Plan No. 6 (1953) abolished the council and transferred its functions to a new position, the ''Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs)''. In August 1953, some functions of this position were transferred to the ''Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower)'', and the title was changed to ''Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health and Medical)''. The position was abolished completely on January 31, 1961, and for the remainder of the decade, all of its functions were vested in the ''Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower)''. However, Congress authorized a permanent assistant secretary position for health affairs in November 1969 (P.L. 91-121). The post was then re-established as ''Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health and Environment)'' in June 1970 by Defense Directive 5136.1. In January 1976, the position was re-designated ''Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs)'', a title that has endured to the present day.

Responsibilities

The ASD(HA) is responsible for a number of organizations which directly affect the health care of service members and their dependents. These responsibilities are executed through several Senior Executive Service managers, including the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) and the following Deputy Assistant Secretaries: *Force Health Protection & Readiness (FHP&R) *Clinical and Program Policy *Health Budgets and Financial Policy. Other special activities within Health Affairs' jurisdiction include the

TRICARE Tricare (styled TRICARE) is a health care program of the United States Department of Defense Military Health System. Tricare provides civilian health benefits for U.S Armed Forces military personnel, military retirees, and their dependents, ...

Management Activity, an extensive network of private physicians and hospitals providing health maintenance to service members. With a $40 billion budget (as of 2005), the Military Health System (MHS) provides care for roughly 9.2 million (as of 2005) people through TRICARE and through more than 70 military hospitals worldwide. MHS comprises over 133,000 military and civilian doctors, nurses, medical educators, researchers, health care providers, allied health professionals, and health administration personnel worldwide, providing our nation with an unequalled integrated healthcare delivery, expeditionary medical, educational, and research capability. The ASD (HA) oversees the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS), which educates uniform

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

s and other health professionals for the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

and

Public Health Service In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

. The ASD(HA) also directly tasks the

International Health International health, also called ''geographic medicine'', '' international medicine'', or ''global health'', is a field of health care, usually with a public health emphasis, dealing with health across regional or national boundaries. One subset ...

Division of FHP&R, while FHP&R provides administrative oversight and resources.

Current and Past Assistant Secretaries

The table below includes both the various titles of this post over time, as well as all the holders of those offices. Persons marked with a * are interim officials described in military documents as "Performing the Duties of the ASD/HA," rather than as "Acting"

References

{{Reflist Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury 1949 establishments in the United States