WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday ordered a broad overhaul of the military’s senior war colleges, directing them to judge every course by whether it produces officers who can win wars, ending lifetime tenure for newly hired civilian faculty and making a graded capstone wargame or exam the centerpiece of each officer’s final standing.
The eight-page memorandum, dated Nov. 9 and titled “Reforming Professional Military Education to Forge Warfighters and Secure Victory,” lists 33 directives for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps war colleges, the National Defense University and the services’ intermediate-level schools. Hegseth announced it in a speech at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I.
“The fundamental purpose of the Armed Forces of the United States is to fight and win our Nation’s wars. There is no substitute for victory,” the memo says. It says reviews ordered in March found that “the PME enterprise has stagnated and immediate realignment is required,” and that schools must align with the 2026 National Defense Strategy. “If an activity, course, or policy does not contribute directly to lethality, readiness, and strategic victory, it has no place in this Department,” it says.
The Pentagon’s announcement said the directive “reverses decades of academic drift, eliminating ideological distractions in favor of joint warfighting mastery, decision-forcing rigor, and competitive wargaming.” The review was led by Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata and carried out by a Senior Service College Task Force, according to a Naval War College account of the visit.
What the memo orders
The directives give the services and Tata’s office deadlines of 90 to 270 days. Among them:
| Directive | What it requires | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Mission statements | Refocus senior and intermediate schools on “decisive military victory in combat” | Report in 90 days |
| Curriculum | Make the National Security and National Defense strategies the foundation; add homeland defense, First Island Chain defense, the defense industrial base and allied burden-sharing for academic year 2027-28 | Report in 90 days |
| Capstone | A standardized end-of-course wargame or comprehensive exam, “heavily weighted” in final grades | Framework in 180 days |
| Grading | Most of a grade from individually assessed exercises, writing and exams, with seminar participation de-emphasized | Report in 180 days |
| Faculty | A majority of full-time faculty with military or defense experience; no lifetime tenure or emeritus status for new hires, who move to renewable three-year contracts | Plans in 180 days |
| Warfighter Chairs | Billets for O-5 and O-6 officers who finished operational command in the previous 24 months | Report in 180 days |
| Boards of Visitors | Review charters and audit members, targeting at least 15 years of relevant experience | Report in 120 days |
| Classified study | Plans to expand classified seminars and wargames at every senior college | With the FY2029 budget plan |
| National Defense University | A full review of its mission, organization and staffing | 270 days |
The memo also calls for case studies on “civil-military relations, lawful authority, and the boundaries of consent in the exercise of military power,” enterprise-wide artificial intelligence competencies for graduates, secure cloud sandboxes for AI experiments, and an acquisition strategy for AI wargaming tools, naming “Palantir Maven integration” as an example. It directs the Army secretary to run an annual joint strategic wargame across all the colleges and to make Army University report directly to Army leadership.
The speech in Newport
Hegseth told students and faculty that the colleges’ “primary task” must be “teaching victory,” according to the Naval War College account, which put the audience at nearly 700. He praised the school for running two AI-assisted wargames this year, USNI News reported, and said the department would build or expand secure facilities on every campus so students could study threats “at the highest levels of national classification.”
He also said the review found “a stubborn undercurrent of passive-aggressive institutional resistance” at the Naval War College, USNI News reported, and he called for war colleges to study the conduct of former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley during the 2020-21 transition as a case in civilian control of the military. The Rhode Island Current reported that he cited the end of the college’s 12-year research partnership with Brown University, which he said he ordered last month, and that he did not take questions.
The college’s president, Rear Adm. Darryl Walker, said Hegseth’s “clear vision, priorities and direction have guided – and will continue to guide – our programs and curriculum.” The school’s public affairs officer, Lt. Cmdr. Seth Koenig, told the Current that leaders would review the 33 directives against the current curriculum and that “a few things that (Hegseth) mentioned specifically on stage are not in direct conflict with anything we’re currently doing.” About 70 percent of the college’s faculty are civilians, the Current reported.
Critics and the politics
Some former faculty have objected to the department’s approach. USNI News noted that Pauline Shanks Kaurin resigned as the college’s Stockdale Chair in Professional Military Ethics in 2025, citing a loss of academic freedom, and that Sarah C.M. Paine, who left the same year, has criticized the conduct of the Iran war. About 30 to 40 protesters gathered near the Newport Pell Bridge as Hegseth arrived, the Current reported.
The announcement came hours before Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., reintroduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth over military operations in Iran and elsewhere, a push the House must take up within two legislative days, according to USNI News. President Trump stood by Hegseth against the effort at a White House briefing on Monday. The Current reported that Hegseth planned to hold a news conference on Tuesday.
The tenure change applies only to newly hired faculty and is to be carried out “consistent with statutory requirements and existing agreements,” the memo says.
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