Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo Friday barring military academies from considering race, sex, or ethnicity in their admissions process.
The memo directs the secretaries of all the military departments to implement “merit-based” criteria for the 2026 admissions cycle, striking all criteria that consider the aforementioned identity categories. The memo would bring the academies in line with President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order banning all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the military.
The order also directed Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Jay Hurst to ensure compliance from all military academies. In January, Hegseth issued a memo to the Pentagon to begin the process of instituting “color-blind” admissions at the academies.
“The Military Service Academies (MSA) are elite warfighting institutions with long histories of producing world class military officers,” Hegseth wrote in the memo. “The Department owes it to our Nation, our Service members, and the young Americans applying to the MSAs to ensure admissions to these prestigious institutions are based exclusively on merit.” (RELATED: US Naval Academy Ditches Racial Preferences In Admissions Following Trump Order)
The Army Corp of Cadets march on the field before the 125th America’s Game between the Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen at Northwest Stadium on December 14, 2024 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
The U.S. Naval Academy already banned race-based admissions in March, specifically citing Trump’s order as the reason for the change in legal proceedings with Students for Fair Admission.
In February, Trump fired the board of visitors for the U.S. military academies, saying the move was to purge “Woke Leftist Ideologues” that have entrenched themselves in the institutions.
Eliminating DEI in the military was one of Hegseth’s top priorities going into his confirmation to lead the Defense Department.
“Secretary Hegseth understands that restoring the warrior ethos among current and future service members is a matter of national security, which is why he is taking swift action to ensure we get our service academies back on track,” Nicole Kiprilov, executive director of DOD Watch, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The fact that DEI was intentionally infused into these institutions of higher learning in the first place is absolute lunacy that has harmed our country in every way, and the Trump administration is making it clear that we are putting a definitive end to this.”
The Trump administration has also moved to ban DEI practices in the rest of the federal government, slashing billions of dollars of programs instituted and upheld by former President Joe Biden’s administration.
“The Department must remain steadfast in its pursuit of excellence and never compromise the high standards at our MSAs,” the memo reads. “A strong officer corps is essential to ensuring the United States military remains the most lethal the world has ever known.”
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