Senate Armed Services Committee grills Anthony Teta on past statements, recruiting, and workforce cuts in personnel readiness hearing

Anthony Teta, the president’s nominee for Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 12, 2025, he would put service members’ welfare first while defending the constitution and advancing the administration’s readiness agenda. The hearing focused on his past public statements about senior military leaders, his views on removing or reassigning senior officers, and how he would handle recruitment, retention and civilian hiring shortfalls.

The nomination hearing, chaired by Senator Roger Wicker, drew sustained questioning from Democratic and Republican senators about Teta’s previous posts on social media and public commentary calling for reviews or removals of senior officers. “Those were out of character comments. I regret making those comments,” Teta told the committee when asked to explain earlier inflammatory statements, saying he had apologized previously to the committee.

The exchange matters because the under secretary for personnel and readiness…