Guest post by David Jackson, USMA 1973

Recent events and facts emerging from West Point demonstrate to fellow graduates, the nation, the Secretary of Defense, and all observers that the current administration at West Point must be replaced—and we must start at the top.

Over the last three years, the Leaders of the esteemed academy stood their ground, reporting to Congressional Committees that West Point did not teach Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) to over 4000 future officers of the U.S. Army. In fact, LTG Steven Gilland doubled down on 19 July 2023 and spoke directly to House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel: “We don’t conduct diversity training at the military academy.” While the previous West Point Superintendent issued the 2020-2025 West Point DEI Strategic Plan, LTG Gilland refused to pull back or modify the document or reduce cadet instruction mandated by that document. Dr. John Hughes thoroughly documents all of this in his book “West Point’s Cult of DEI.”

It is not the intent of this article to rehash any of Dr. Hughes’ extensive arguments documenting the deterioration of West Point’s philosophies of training cadets. He does that very well. This example serves to point to and provide a background that supports the overall premise that follows.

Another, more recent event further points to the deceit West Point condones. On December 11, 2024, Pete Hegseth reported that the investigative news website ProPublica planned to run a “knowingly false” story. Mr. Hegseth had stated publicly that he had been accepted to attend West Point but had chosen to attend college at Princeton University. Checking the facts, ProPublica responsibly contacted West Point for verification. ProPublica asked for this verification and on December 10, 2024, West Point Public Affairs office responded by stating that Hegseth had not applied for admission to West Point. For clarification, the news team called back to West Point, and West Point reiterated that Hegseth ‘had never opened a file.’ (as a follow-up note, West Point did publicly correct the error after a copy of Mr. Hegseth’s acceptance letter of 1999 was made public) Likewise, this event and following actions have been well documented.. Subsequently we have learned that the Superintendent reviews and approves the PAO official statements

But the point here is NOT that West Point made an error. Mistakes happen.

The point worthy of note is that a team from the mainstream media (msm) contacted West Point twice and received answers both times within a date (and more than likely, within hours of asking the question). No delay. No Stonewalling.

By contrast a graduate of West Point, a retired Colonel, asked within a few days after this event for some basic information, by submitting a FOIA Request. NOTE: As a reminder of this Act the law requires inquiries to receive an initial response within 20 days with an additional 10 day extension if there exists unusual circumstances.

In early April 2025, the COL was informed that West Point referred this FOIA to the Secretary of the Army’s Initial Denial Authority.

Yet last week, Business Insider published an article that detailed the timelines and West Point emails associated with this event. West Point released these documents to the media outlet, presumedly as a result of their FOIA request.

While the West Point Leadership failed to reply to a respectful question from a graduate, they approved the release of documents to a media outlet. In addition to answering immediately to the initial msm inquiry. A quick and honest response to the graduate would likely have ended the matter there.

West Point leadership just doesn’t seem to get it. Grads are on their side IF treated with honesty.

But it continues. West Point leaders refuse to answer many graduates’ initial questions, which usually results in an official FOIA request. Which gets stonewalled.

In today’s climate, the Department of Defense is showing a transparency not seen before. West Point continues to obfuscate, deflect, parry. The result: many unanswered or denied FOIA and initiation of lawsuits.

On July 11, 2025, the Board of Visitors conducted a regular meeting at West Point. In attendance were 11 graduates/supporters of the MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates (MS), a volunteer think tank of like minded individuals. That society’s stated purpose is: To preserve, defend, and advocate for West Point's history, purpose, and principles of Duty, Honor, Country. Between speakers, there was ample time for conversation between attendees. In discussions with West Point staff some of the MS supporters got the distinct impression that the staff considered the MS to be “the Enemy.”

As with all military organizations, the tone of subordinates is set by the man in charge. It appears as though LTG S. Gilland has led to the degradation of character and instruction at West Point. Whether through personal actions, such as statements to Congress (shown by Dr. Hughes), smoke-screening and stonewalling of FOIA requests, attitudes towards fellow graduates, the current superintendent is not what the nation needs as the leader of the world’s premier military academy. West Point does so many things right and for the benefit of the nation and its future leaders.

Imagine what could happen when the superintendent is replaced.

The Secretary of the Army needs to make this happen soon.