Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced a sweeping overhaul of the Pentagon’s senior service colleges Monday during a speech at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. The institution trains Navy officers who hold or are about to enter flag rank.
“At my direction, I’m announcing 33 new directives. A complete overhaul to reform our Department of War senior service colleges,” Hegseth said. “To forge leaders of unmatched competence, sound moral judgment, and resolute warrior ethos.” He said the memo detailing the directives would be sent out the same day.
One of the central changes eliminates the traditional 80-page written thesis long used as the capstone project for senior officers. In its place, the Department of War will install competitive, AI-assisted war-gaming exercises and high-stress decision-forcing scenarios as the primary method for evaluating senior officers.
Hegseth singled out the Naval War College for praise, noting it has already run two AI-assisted war games this year. “That was a focal point of where they want this college to go,” he said.
The directives also call for a permanent intercollege war-gaming structure spanning all senior service colleges. Hegseth said joint operations training has for too long meant little more than “an Army colonel and a Navy captain sharing coffee in the same seminar room.” Under the new plan, colleges will run linked capstone war games combining live, virtual and constructive forces across multiple domains, testing officers against unscripted adversary tactics. Results will feed directly into newly created joint warfighter exercises and evaluations.
Oral boards replace written work
Hegseth said the colleges will now serve as a “modern proving ground,” combining intensive war-gaming with adversarial oral defense boards designed to prevent officers from relying on ghostwriters or generative AI. “We will stress-test every prospective general and flag officer,” he said. “Promotion to senior rank will not be an administrative reward for longevity. It will be earned by demonstrating the intellectual agility, lethal operational competence, and moral resolve required to win in combat.”
He compared the approach to basic training drills for privates. “If that’s good enough for privates in basic training, it’s good enough for prospective general officers,” he said, describing the kind of real-time pressure officers face in the field: “You have to make a decision. You have to make a decision NOW.”
Infrastructure failures cited
Hegseth also detailed physical and administrative problems uncovered by a Pentagon task force. Investigators found black mold and outdated IT systems at National Defense University facilities. The Army War College is struggling with a faculty manning shortage, worsened by its subordination to a tactical-level command structure. Reserve Component officers in distance-learning programs are burdened with what Hegseth called unrealistic administrative demands.
He said nearly all senior colleges lack sufficient modernized Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, limiting officers’ ability to study classified threat material or run realistic war games against adversary operational plans. “You cannot study real world pacing threats using open source journalism,” Hegseth said, adding that the Department is “acting decisively to fix these structural failures.”
Whether the full scope of these changes moves forward depends in part on Congress authorizing the necessary funding before January 3.
