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Military academies must pursue a ‘culture of excellence,’ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says

Military academies must pursue merit, not affirmative action in admissions, according to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Secretary Hegseth ordered “Military Service Academies,” such as the Air Force Academy, Naval Academy, and West Point, to no longer use race and sex when deciding who to admit.

“The Military Service Academies (MSA) are elite warfighting institutions with long histories of producing world class military officers,” a memo states.

The Daily Wire published a copy of the memo in a recent story. “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.”

“Selecting anyone but the best erodes lethality, our warfighting readiness, and undercuts the culture of excellence in our Armed Forces,” Hegseth wrote further. He was admitted to West Point but chose not to attend.

The Naval Academy reportedly has already begun complying with the admissions policy, according to what it told a court in May, Military.com reported.

A spokeswoman for Hegseth further explained the importance of the policy.

Admissions must be based “exclusively on merit, rewarding individual initiative, excellence, and hard work,” Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told The Daily Wire.

“A strong officer corps is essential to ensuring the United States military remains the most lethal the world has ever known,” Hegseth stated further.

The service academies must certify with the Department of Defense that they are in compliance at the completion of the 2026 admissions cycle, according to Hegseth.

The directive aligns with federal law, which forbids discrimination on the basis of race and sex. The 2023 Students for Fair Admissions Supreme Court case affirmed that colleges cannot discriminate against anyone, including white and Asian students.

During his inaugural address in January, Trump also promised to create a “colorblind and and merit-based” society, as reported by The Fix.

“I will … end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based,” Trump said at the time.

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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: West Point cadets march on campus; Shutterstock/Alan Budman

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