The Defense Department is considering its most sweeping remake of military higher education, according to an unreleased draft memorandum obtained by CBS News.
The proposal would abolish civilian tenure and overhaul course offerings at the military service academies and senior war colleges that educate future military officers. The memorandum, labeled “Refocusing the Military Service Academies and Senior Service College on Warfighter Education,” would direct institutions like West Point to eliminate the granting of tenure to civilian faculty and launch a comprehensive review of the curriculum.
The memorandum has not yet been approved by top Pentagon officials. It is unclear when it could be finalized or how it would be implemented.
What the Proposal Would Do
The draft proposal would apply to:
· West Point
· U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis
· U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado
· Naval War College in Rhode Island
· Army War College in Pennsylvania
More than 10,000 people are enrolled in those institutions.
“Tenure is a construct designed to protect academic freedom within universities. In practice, it more often leads to stagnation, complacency, and inflexibility,” the memorandum states. “It contributes to a curriculum that drifts from the mission of educating our warfighters to the research priorities of the tenured academics.”
A ‘Line-by-Line’ Curriculum Review
Beyond civilian faculty employment, the draft proposal would direct Pentagon officials to conduct a “line-by-line” review of every course taught at the military academies and senior service colleges. Each course would be measured against a single standard: whether it directly advances “tactical, operational or strategic warfighting.”
Courses determined to be non-essential or “ideologically driven” would be slated for elimination. It is not clear what criteria the Pentagon would use to determine what is non-essential or how a course is driven by ideology.
Who Is Behind the Proposal
The policy proposal is being driven by Tim Dill, the assistant defense secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, according to US military officials who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity. A former Army Green Beret officer, Dill previously served as national security adviser to Senator Ted Cruz.
The memorandum would need to be approved by Anthony Tata, a West Point graduate and undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The Broader Campaign
The proposal marks the latest step in Hegseth’s campaign to reshape military education. Since taking office, the Pentagon has directed service academies to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion instruction, rescind faculty appointments, and scrutinize library collections for books addressing race and gender.
The Pentagon has also cut ties with graduate education opportunities at civilian universities such as Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and Yale, which Hegseth claims are “factories of anti-American resentment.”
The Defense of Tenure
Tenure for civilian faculty members at the service academies has been in place for decades and has repeatedly been defended by academy leaders before Congress as essential to attracting highly qualified scholars.
During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last year, West Point’s superintendent told lawmakers that tenure provided civilian professors opportunities to develop within their academic disciplines while helping the academy recruit and retain talented faculty. The Naval Academy superintendent similarly described tenure as “a wonderful recruiting tool.”
The Bottom Line
The Pentagon is considering a sweeping proposal that would abolish civilian tenure at military service academies and senior war colleges and review all curriculum to focus exclusively on warfighter education. The draft memorandum, which has not yet been approved, would apply to West Point, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, and senior war colleges. It comes amid a broader campaign by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to reshape military education.
