The key facts

  • Hegseth ordered a comprehensive reform of the Pentagon's professional military education system
  • The reform is aimed at prioritizing warfighting readiness, military leadership, and warfighting skills
  • Programs will be assessed by whether they prepare officers to win future conflicts

Directive on military education reform

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Monday ordered a sweeping overhaul of the Department of Defense's professional military education (PME) system, directing reforms to prioritize warfighting readiness, military leadership, and the skills of waging war. Anadolu reports this. The directive followed a review conducted by the Senior Service College Task Force and provides for immediate changes at senior war colleges and intermediate-level educational institutions.

What is changing

The Pentagon said the reforms are intended to reverse decades of so-called 'academic drift': 'ideological distractions' are being removed from the programs, with greater emphasis placed on joint combat operations, strategic decision-making, and competitive military exercises. Under the new rules, military education programs will be assessed by whether they prepare officers to fight and win future conflicts.

The Secretary's statement

'The reforms I am directing today are meant to strengthen military education focused on winning our nation's wars and on every individual's fidelity to the oath to our Constitution,' Hegseth said in remarks at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He added that a far more serious task is 'to build an educational architecture capable of producing architects of victory, which is what we need all of you to become.'