On Monday, President Trump ordered the dismissal of the Board of Visitors for all four U.S. military service academies, asserting that the panels had been “infiltrated” by “woke leftists.”
“Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I have ordered the immediate dismissal of the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard.”
The Boards of Visitors are responsible for assessing various aspects of the academies, including morale and discipline, curriculum and instruction, academic methods, physical resources, and financial matters.
These boards oversee the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
Each board consists of six members appointed by the president, three selected by the vice president, four chosen by the Speaker of the House, and one representative each from the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.
Donald Trump (Photo: Getty Images)
While intended to provide independent recommendations on academy operations, the boards have increasingly become a focal point in political disputes.
In September 2021, President Biden removed all military academy board members appointed by Trump during his first term—a controversial decision given that each board member’s tenure is supposed to last three years.
At the time, the White House justified the removals by questioning the qualifications of several Trump appointees, including former adviser Kellyanne Conway, who served on the Air Force Academy board, and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, a Navy Reserve officer appointed to the Naval Academy board.
Trump’s move appears to follow a similar rationale, arguing that fresh appointments are needed to “make the Military Academies GREAT AGAIN!”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has expressed a desire to remove “woke” civilian professors from military academies and replace them with military personnel. However, experts suggest that implementing such changes may be challenging due to ongoing difficulties in recruiting faculty.
