Draft Pentagon Memo Would Strip Tenure From West Point and Annapolis Professors and Audit Every Course
The document says tenure 'more often leads to stagnation, complacency, and inflexibility.' It would give officials 60 days to begin a line-by-line review of every class at the service academies and war colleges.
A draft Pentagon memorandum would abolish tenure for civilian faculty at the nation's military academies and war colleges and subject every course they teach to a line-by-line review, according to a document obtained by CBS News.
The memo, titled "Refocusing the Military Service Academies and Senior Service College on Warfighter Education," covers the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, the Naval War College in Rhode Island and the Army War College in Pennsylvania — institutions that together enroll more than 10,000 people.
Its case against tenure is stated directly. "Tenure is a construct designed to protect academic freedom within universities," the document reads. "In practice, it more often leads to stagnation, complacency, and inflexibility." The memo also argues tenure "contributes to curriculum that drifts from the mission of educating our warfighters to the research priorities of the tenured academics."
The curriculum provisions go further than personnel. Every course would be measured against whether it advances "tactical, operational, and strategic combat leadership" and "warfighting readiness." Among the recommendations: replacing most civilian professors with active-duty or retired military officers, and requiring at least 75% of coursework to bear directly on military competencies. Officials would have 60 days to issue guidance on eliminating tenure and to begin the curriculum review.
The proposal is being driven by Tim Dill, the assistant defense secretary for manpower and reserve affairs and a former Army Green Beret. It still requires sign-off from Anthony Tata, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It has not been approved, and it is not clear when — or whether — it would be finalized and distributed, or how it would be implemented against faculty who already hold tenure. The Pentagon declined to comment.
Academy leaders have pushed back on versions of this idea before. Superintendents have testified that tenure is what allows the service academies to recruit scholars who could earn more at civilian universities, and that stripping it would hollow out departments that take decades to build. Tim Bakken, a law professor at West Point, argued the academies' mission depends on exactly the protection the memo would remove: preparing officers requires the "freedom to analyze and discuss any issue."
The memo fits a broader pattern at Hegseth's Pentagon, which has cut academic ties with Ivy League and other elite universities, canceled dozens of military fellowships, and ordered reductions in the ranks of four-star officers — all framed as redirecting resources toward warfighting. Lawmakers from both parties have written to the department over earlier rounds of cuts to academy civilian staff, and a bipartisan group is likely to press for answers on this one if it is signed.
Originally reported by CBS News.