The Department of Defense (DOD) is looking to restructure current promotion systems to ensure that personnel directly engaged in military and combat operations get top positions, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in an announcement posted to X on July 20.“America’s sons and daughters who serve in our military deserve the best leaders commanding them, which is why we need to reform the promotion system at DOD, how we get those leaders,” Hegseth said.
Stuart Scheller, senior adviser to the DOD undersecretary in personnel and readiness, who joined Hegseth in the announcement, has been tasked with “looking at the entirety of the selection and retention process for our military’s officer corps,” Hegseth said.
This includes training recruits in professional military education, evaluation of officers, promotions, and command selections, the defense secretary said.
“We need to have officers who understand where their compass is. They’re not risk-averse. They’re not playing the game. They’re not simply checking the box to get to the next level, which creates all the wrong incentives. We’re reviewing the whole thing, because we’re here to make institutional change that brings warfighters to the top,” he said.
“And this is a historic opportunity under President Trump, who gives us the shield to do these kinds of things in the department, so that we preserve it for generations to come.”
After President Donald Trump was sworn into office in January, the DOD began moving on three key initiatives—reestablishing deterrence, rebuilding the military, and restoring warrior ethos, Hegseth said.
“The results so far? Distractions like DEI, CRT, social justice, politically correct stuff—gone. Focus on standards that are high, gender neutral, equal, and unwavering. We’ve got unprecedented recruitment numbers, and bad actors like Iran and the Houthis understand that when President Trump talks, he means what he says,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth said this was only a “small part” of the changes in the U.S. military under the Trump administration and that the reforms have “only just begun.”
The order blamed the Biden administration for forcing “illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military.” Trump ordered an end to such practices.
The order stated that people who express a false “gender identity” cannot “satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”
“For the sake of our Nation and the patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve it, military service must be reserved for those mentally and physically fit for duty,” it said.
The memo, issued to secretaries of the military departments, was about evaluating procedures related to the selection and promotion of military officers.
The office would assess current programs and policies related to the matter, said the memo, adding that “objective standards and measures should be at the forefront of the promotion and selection process.”
Four areas are being covered in the assessment: Current performance evaluations across military service and the objective markers associated with these evaluations, current processes at promotion selection boards, officer development processes, and the impact of professional military education on assessing officers.
“Talent management of the U.S. military officer corps is a top priority, and this review will provide valuable feedback to the Services and to my office concerning how to enhance the lethality of the force. We must ensure that our promotion and selection process identify and select the best talent in our ranks,” the memo said.
