SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In August 2026 and in accordance with authority described in Chapter 10 of Title 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) 1008(a)(2), the Secretary of War (SecWar) approved the establishment of the Council. The public or interested organizations may submit written statements about the Council's mission and functions.

The Council will operate in accordance with chapter 10 of title 5, U.S.C. (“commonly known as the Federal Advisory Committee Act” or “FACA”), and 41 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 102-3, “Federal Advisory Committee Management,” [90 Federal Register 58417; December 16, 2025], and DoW policies and procedures.

Written statements may be submitted at any time or in response to the stated agenda of planned meetings of the Council. All written statements shall be submitted to the Council Designated Federal Officer (DFO), CAPT Shawn Clausen, U.S. Navy, 703-275-6060, or shawn.s.clausen.mil@health.mil. The DFO will ensure all written statements are provided to the membership for their consideration. Consistent with 41 CFR 102-3.65(a), the DoW is publishing the Council's Public Interest Determination.

Pursuant to 41 CFR 102-3.60(a), to establish, renew, reestablish, or merge a discretionary (agency discretion) advisory committee, an agency must first consult with the General Services Administration's Committee Management Secretariat (the Secretariat) and, as part of the consultation, provide a written public interest determination approved by the head of the agency to the Secretariat with a copy to the Office of Management and Budget. In addition, pursuant to 41 CFR 102-3.35, an agency shall follow the same consultation process and document in writing the same determination of need before creating a subcommittee under a discretionary committee that is not made up entirely of members of a parent advisory committee.

Information on the following factors for the Council is provided to the Secretariat to demonstrate that establishing the Council is in the public interest:

1. Annual Budget: The DoW estimates annual operating costs to support the Council are $1,368,170, which includes personnel travel, meetings, and contract support.

a. Federal personnel on a full-time equivalent basis: The estimated annual personnel costs to the DoW are 1.5 full-time equivalent at $422,043, which includes basic pay with cost-of-living allowance.

b. Other Federal internal costs: $861,127.

c. Proposed payments to members: Consistent with 10 U.S.C. 173, members of the Council are not compensated for their services, except for travel and per diem reimbursement for official Council-related business.

d. Proposed number of members: As authorized by the SecWar, the Council will be composed of not more than 20 members and subcommittees, if authorized, will be composed of not more than 15 members.

e. Reimbursable costs: The estimated reimbursement costs, to include travel, for Advisory Committee on Health and Human Performance Optimization staff and members are $85,000.

2. If applicable, the total dollar value of grants expected to be recommended during the fiscal year: N/A.

3. Criteria for selecting members to ensure the committee has the necessary expertise and balanced membership: As described in its proposed charter and membership balance plan, Council members will be talented, innovative private and public sector health care leaders and membership shall be drawn from individuals with expertise in any of the following disciplines:

(a) Urology/Andrology

(b) Endocrinology

(c) Nutrition

(d) Neurology/Brain Health

(e) Combat Stress Physiology/Military Operational Medicine

(f) Defense Health Agency Representative

(g) Lifestyle Medicine

(h) Preventive Medicine/Biostatistics/Epidemiology

(i) Orthopedics/Sports Medicine/Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

(j) Digital Health and Wearable Technology

(k) Psychiatry/Psychology/Spiritual Resilience

(l) Sleep Medicine

(m) Strategic Foresight and Biomedical Innovation/Human Factors Engineering

In evaluating candidates for the Council, the DoW considers education, life experience, and professional credentials concerning the subject matters anticipated to be tasked to the Council. The DoW has found that viewing the complex issues facing the DoW through a multidisciplinary advisory committee provides the DoW and, more importantly, the American public with a broader understanding of the issues on which subsequent policy decisions are based. Membership shall be fairly balanced in terms of points of view represented and the functions to be performed by the Council. The Council's membership balance is not static, and the DoW Appointing Authority may change the membership based upon work assigned to the Council.

4. List of all other DoW Federal Advisory Committees: A complete listing of DoW Federal advisory committees can be located at: www.facadatabase.gov/​FACA/​s/​account/​001t000000DCAooAAH/​department-of-defense.

5. Justification that the information or advice provided by the Federal advisory committee or subcommittee is not available from another Federal advisory committee, another Federal Government source, or any other more cost-effective and less burdensome source: The Council will serve as a high-impact, low-cost mechanism for the DoW to secure the expertise of the nation's foremost leaders at the nexus of warrior health and performance. The Council will provide knowledge derived from extensive experience with issues, techniques, and strategies that impact, optimize, and re-establish well-being and performance in the face of challenging circumstances. This expertise is essential to accelerate evaluation and potential applications of strategies to improve human performance among members of the DoW Active and Reserve Components, to maintain a ready fighting force on the leading edge of lethality, and to better care for those suffering from operational stressors and exposures.

Focused exclusively on human performance, the Council will provide the SecWar and Deputy Secretary of ( printed page 67555) War with a unique advisory capability specific to optimization of warfighter health and performance that is not otherwise available to the SecWar from within the Department. While other DoW advisory bodies focus broadly on strategic defense technology ( e.g., the Science, Technology, and Innovation Board) or standard clinical healthcare delivery ( e.g., the Defense Health Board), no other body is dedicated exclusively to the holistic optimization, rapid validation, and field-integration of human performance capabilities across Total Force Fitness (TFF) domains.

Securing this highly specialized, multi-disciplinary expertise through traditional federal hiring is prohibited by civil service recruiting timelines and caps. Fulfilling these requirements via commercial advisory contracts is cost-prohibitive, lacks the long-term continuity required for multi-year strategic programs, and cannot legally provide the independent, collective consensus advice authorized under FACA.

The Council represents an exceptionally cost-effective resource. Its membership will be drawn from volunteer subject matter experts who are highly specialized in human performance. Special Government Employee Members serve without compensation and receive only travel and per diem reimbursement for official council-related business. Once chartered, the Council and its subcommittees function as a standing advisory body, capable of initiating critical evaluations and reports without the delays associated with new procurements or contracts.

6. If the consultation is a committee renewal, a summary of the previous accomplishments of the committee and the reasons it needs to continue: N/A.

7. Explanation of why the committee/subcommittee is essential to the conduct of agency business: The Council directly advances the Administration's core national security priorities by providing independent advice and recommendations ensuring America's warfighters' physical attributes fully align with the goal of deterring adversaries through strength—not weakness—by producing lethal, operationally ready warriors prepared physically, psychologically, for successful large-scale, high kinetic, combat operations against peer adversaries who are imbued with the essential Warrior Ethos to win decisively. The American people have entrusted the DoW and its Commanders with the Nation's most vital asset—the American Warfighter. The Commissioned and Non-Commissioned Officers leading Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Guardians hold direct responsibility for the physical fitness, mental acuity, and combat focus of their teams. The modern battlefield demands physiologic resilience while operational stress impacts performance, recovery, and physiological health. The DoW maintains weapon systems and equipment with precision, discipline, and accountability, yet does not currently manage Warfighter performance with that same level of rigor. That gap directly impacts readiness, increases operational risk, and limits warrior lethality and effectiveness. Warfighter Performance Optimization (WPO) is the Department's approach to closing this gap. By building on and modernizing the principles of TFF, WPO will provide leaders with the data, tools, capabilities, and resources required to understand Warfighter performance, anticipate degradation, and take necessary actions. WPO will deliver a unified operational approach to accelerate readiness, dominance, and peak performance across the Force. The DoW treats the Warfighter as a readiness capability, held to the same disciplined evaluation, maintenance, and optimization the DoW demands of every asset that preserves combat power, optimizes performance, combats Operator Syndrome, and maximizes mission readiness to achieve total victory on any battlefield anywhere and anytime.

A component to WPO is alleviating the impact of allostatic load—the cumulative wear-and-tear on the Warrior's body from repeated exposure to stress. Many military occupations require constant readiness, prolonged separation from family, high-stakes decision-making, physical and psychological trauma, and repeated exposure to danger, often over decades. WPO and TFF work together to prevent, identify and manage combat and operational stress issues as early as possible, before they become medical problems. The Council's advice and recommendations will serve to support WPO initiatives on Warrior physiological and psychological maintenance, longevity, mobility/flexibility and stress mitigation, preparing American Warfighters to better able to handle the rigors and stress of the job in a military career.

The Council's advice and recommendations will allow the DoW to create, manage, and sustain 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.

The Council efforts will provide a critical component in advancing the DoW's essential core business of restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military and reestablishing deterrence with its focus on building and maintaining a ready, lethal fighting force prepared to dominate all aspects of battlespace and achieve peace through strength.

91 FR 67554