The Defense Department has decided to curb academic ties with nearly two dozen top universities and think tanks as part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s campaign against what he calls anti-American values and “wokeness.”
In a video published to social media on Friday hours before the United States and Israel attacked Iran, Mr. Hegseth denounced the institutions in blistering language, calling them politically liberal institutions with “wicked ideologies” that were indoctrinating U.S. service members. Beginning in the new school year in September, a Defense Department memo shows, the military will ban service members from attending certain graduate-level programs and fellowships at those universities.
In addition to Harvard, which was banned earlier this month, the Defense Department said the banned institutions would include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, George Washington, Tufts, St. Louis and Carnegie Mellon, as well as the College of William & Mary, Middlebury College and Queen’s University in Ontario.
When Mr. Hegseth curbed ties with Harvard, it was seen as part of a wider pressure campaign by the Trump administration to force the university to cut a deal with the government. But some of the universities that were banned on Friday have already agreed to a laundry list of demands from the Trump administration as part of an effort to remake the culture of higher education.
The Defense Department said it would also limit ties with seven high-profile think tanks in Washington known for their defense and national security analysis: 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 Center.
In total, 93 military students are currently enrolled in graduate-level programs and fellowships at these institutions. Many of the programs offer mid- and senior-level officer’s courses on national and international security. The largest cohort goes to Harvard, with 21 enrolled in programs at the Ivy League school. Mr. Hegseth, who served as an infantry officer with the National Guard, graduated from Harvard’s Kennedy School in 2013 with a master’s degree in public policy.
In the memo detailing the cuts, the Defense Department said it was considering replacing the programs with those at institutions including state universities and conservative Christian schools like Liberty University and Hillsdale College.
“This decisive change will ensure our leaders receive a more rigorous and relevant education,” the memo said.
John Ismay contributed reporting.
Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
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