Trump announced the move in a Truth Social post, detailing what he called a leftist takeover of U.S. service academies in recent years.
“Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years. I have ordered the immediate dismissal of the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard,” Trump wrote.
“We will have the strongest Military in History, and that begins by appointing new individuals to these Boards. We must make the Military Academies GREAT AGAIN!” he added.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with leadership from West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy last week, instructing the academies to “stick to leadership, standards, excellence, war fighting, and readiness.”
“These are MILITARY ACADEMIES, not civilian universities,” he wrote in a post on X. “I was impressed by the changes already underway and look forward to visiting each institution. Social Justice and DEI are OUT; History, Engineering, and War Studies are IN.”
He called for restoring the “warrior ethos to the” Department of Defense, adding, “it starts with our future leaders.”
Hegseth shared Trump’s Truth Social announcing the dismissal of the Boards of Visitors on Monday morning.
Ellen Mitchell, a senior defense reporter for the Hill, notes that six of the fifteen board members are presidential appointments, while three are vice presidential appointments:
The academy boards are tasked with inquiring into the state of morale and discipline, the curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, academic methods, and other matters relating to the schools.
The boards at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy and U.S. Coast Guard Academy consist of six members appointed by the president, three appointed by the vice president, four appointed by the House speaker, one designated by the Senate Armed Services Committee and one designated by the House Armed Services Committee.
Trump’s announcement comes after he signed executive orders last month abolishing DEI in the DoD and directing Hegseth to update “trans-identifying medical standards” to ensure “military readiness.”
Breitbart News
Read the full article .
