Establishment of Federal Advisory Committees-Advisory Council on Health and Human Performance Optimization

Issuing agencies

Abstract

The DoD (referred to herein as "the Department of War" or "DoW") is publishing this notice to announce it is establishing the Advisory Council on Health and Human Performance Optimization ("the Council") as a discretionary Federal advisory committee.

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 206 (Tuesday, October 27, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 206 (Tuesday, October 27, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67554-67555]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-21900]



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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary


Establishment of Federal Advisory Committees--Advisory Council on 
Health and Human Performance Optimization

AGENCY: Department of Defense (DoD).

ACTION: Establishment of Federal Advisory committee.

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SUMMARY: The DoD (referred to herein as ``the Department of War'' or 
``DoW'') is publishing this notice to announce it is establishing the 
Advisory Council on Health and Human Performance Optimization (``the 
Council'') as a discretionary Federal advisory committee.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Freeman, Advisory Committee 
Management Officer for the DoW, 703-692-5952.

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 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#efd38ecf879d8a89d2" http: shawn.s.clausen.mil">shawn.s.clausen.mil</a>@health.mil"><a href="http://shawn.s.clausen.mil">shawn.s.clausen.mil</a>@health.mil</a>. 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: <a href="https://www.facadatabase.gov/FACA/s/account/001t000000DCAooAAH/department-of-defense">https://www.facadatabase.gov/FACA/s/account/001t000000DCAooAAH/department-of-defense</a>.
    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

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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.

    Dated: October 23, 2026.
Stephanie J. Bost,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 2026-21900 Filed 10-26-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6001-FR-P


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