American military officers can no longer attend Ivy League and top universities for professional education programmes, the US Department of Defense has announced. Certain Senior Service College fellowship programmes would be eliminated beginning with the 2026-2027 academic year, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
“We must develop strategic thinkers through education grounded in the founding principles and documents of the republic, embracing peace through strength and American ideals, and focused on our national strategies and grounded in realism,” Hegseth wrote in a memo. “We will no longer invest in institutions that fail to sharpen our leaders' warfighting capabilities or that undermine the very values they are sworn to defend.”
The decision removes several prominent universities from the Pentagon's approved list for officer fellowships and graduate-level programmes. The institutions include Ivy League universities such as Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown and Princeton, as well as other top schools including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
The Pentagon is also cutting ties with several think tanks known for defence and national security research. These include the Center for Strategic and International Studies, New America, the Brookings Institution, the Atlantic Council, the Center for a New American Security, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Henry L. Stimson Centre.
According to the Defense Department, 93 military personnel are currently enrolled in graduate programmes and fellowships at the affected institutions. Many of these courses are designed for mid- and senior-level officers studying national security and international affairs. Harvard hosts the largest group, with 21 officers enrolled.
Some of the universities being removed from the list have long-standing partnerships with the US military in emerging technology fields. For example, the Army's Artificial Intelligence Integration Center is based at Carnegie Mellon University and works to connect the service with private-sector AI research.
The US Space Force has also partnered with the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies to provide intermediate and senior-level officer education programmes.
This follows an earlier decision this month to cancel professional military education, fellowship and certificate programmes with Harvard.
In a video posted on X, Hegseth criticised elite universities, saying, “For decades, the Ivy League and similar institutions have gorged themselves on a trust fund of American taxpayer dollars, only to become factories of anti-American resentment and military disdain.”
For too long, the Ivy League and similar institutions have been subjecting our warriors to woke indoctrination—those days are over. pic.twitter.com/0xMC6BArDd
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) February 27, 2026
The Pentagon said it is considering new academic partners, including Liberty University, George Mason University, Pepperdine University, the University of Tennessee, the University of Michigan, the University of Nebraska, the University of North Carolina, Clemson University and Baylor University.
