Hegseth orders service academies to ignore ‘race, ethnicity, or sex' in admissions
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth commanded the nation's military academies Friday to stop considering 'race, ethnicity, or sex' in their admissions process, the latest blow by the Trump administration against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs at the Pentagon.
'The Military Service Academies (MSA) are elite warfighting institutions with long histories of producing world class military officers,' Hegseth wrote in the memo to senior Defense Department leadership.
'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,' he added. 'This ensures only the most qualified candidates are admitted, trained, and ultimately commissioned to lead the finest fighting force in history.'
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'Selecting anyone but the best erodes lethality, our warfighting readiness, and undercuts the culture of excellence in our Armed Forces.'
Hegseth argued that merit-based admissions will improve the military's 'lethality' and 'warfighting readiness.'
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The directive – aligned with President Trump's January executive order promoting 'meritocracy and … the elimination of race-based and sex-based discrimination within the Armed Forces of the United States' – instructs military academies to 'apply no consideration of race, ethnicity, or sex' and 'offer admission based exclusively on merit' for the 2026 admissions cycle.
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Hegseth notes that MSAs, such as the US Military Academy West Point, the US Naval Academy and the US Air Force Academy, may give weight to applicants with 'unique athletic talent or other experiences such as prior military service.'
'Going forward, MSAs shall rank-order candidates by merit-based scores,' the Pentagon chief said, explaining that the Department of Defense expects only the highest-ranking candidates to receive appointments.
'The Department must remain steadfast in its pursuit of excellence and never compromise the high standards at our MSAs,' Hegseth continued. 'A strong officer corps is essential to ensuring the United States military remains the most lethal the world has ever known.'
The nation's military academies were exempted from a 2023 Supreme Court ruling outlawing affirmative action in college admissions.
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In 2023, the Supreme Court outlawed the overt consideration of race in higher education admissions in a landmark ruling which struck down affirmative action programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
The high court's ruling, however, specifically exempted America's military academies.
Under the Biden administration, West Point faced accusations of setting benchmarks for how many black, Hispanic and Asian cadets the institution should admit in each class — discriminating against white applicants in the process.
In 2023, West Point touted that minority enrollment in its class of 2027 was roughly 38%, with approximately 14% of the intake Asian American, 11% Hispanic, 10% black, and 1% Native American.
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