Hegseth ceases civilian tenure appointments at service academies

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum on Tuesday ending the appointment of civilian faculty to tenured positions at service academies.

“The primary purpose of our Military Service Academies (MSA) is to prepare the next generation of officers to lead the men and women of the greatest military on Earth. To ensure our educational institutions remain firmly focused on this warfighting mission, we must address the structural mechanisms that have allowed civilian academic norms to dilute our focus on lethality,” Hegseth wrote in the one-page memo.

The secretary added that tenure leads to “academic stagnation, faculty complacency and institutional inability to adapt to emerging needs,” as well as curricula that drifts from the mission of educating warfighters.

Hegseth called on the military service secretaries to immediately cease appointing civilian faculty and develop hiring plans that “prioritize institutional flexibility and faculty contribution to the warfighter mission.”

The signed memo does not lay out a timeline for when plans must be established.

The new directive applies to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

West Point’s faculty is 27% civilian, according to the school’s website. The Naval Academy reports it has 284 civilian faculty members, with 217 tenured and 67 on the tenure track. Various estimates report that the Air Force Academy consists of about 30% civilian faculty. The school uses renewable three- to five-year contracts.

In addition to those service academies, the U.S. has the Coast Guard Academy, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, and the Merchant Marine Academy, which falls under the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration.

The memo comes before Hegseth’s speech to service members on Wednesday, with media reports saying he will announce a 20% cut to general and flag officers.

The Pentagon chief in May 2025 called on the Defense Department to cut at least 20% of its four-star generals and admirals.

Hegseth, in a memo signed at the time, also called for cuts of at least 20% of general officers in the National Guard and at least 10% of its general and flag officers across the military, which could include one-stars or above.

Since he took office, Hegseth has sought to rid the military of diversity and equity programs, policies and instructional materials.

In a memo published January 2025, Hegseth said the Pentagon will not take into account sex, race or ethnicity when considering troops for promotions or special duty. Additionally, no department component will establish sex-, race- or ethnicity-based goals for academic admissions, career fields or organizational composition.

Hegseth followed up four months later with an additional directive saying there will be “no consideration of race, ethnicity, or sex” in admissions to military service academies. The focus will be “exclusively on merit.”

The Defense Department also ordered senior leaders in May 2025 to pull and review all library books at military educational institutions that address diversity, critical race theory or gender ideology.