Hegseth Fumes After Army Scraps New Academic Standards for ROTC Officers

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly furious after the Army abruptly withdrew new academic standards for ROTC cadets that would have required future officers to meet minimum standardized test scores before receiving their commissions.

The standards were announced Aug. 5 in an internal Army memo from then-Assistant Secretary Jules Hurst. The policy would have required incoming ROTC cadets to score at least 1000 on the SAT beginning in January.

Cadets could alternatively qualify with an ACT score of at least 20 or a score above the 50th percentile on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, better known as the ASVAB. The goal was to establish a basic academic benchmark for people preparing to become Army officers.

But just one week after the policy was announced, Army Under Secretary Mike Obadal rescinded it. His Aug. 12 memo called for additional staffing and analysis before the military moves forward with changes to ROTC standards.

The reversal reportedly angered Hegseth, who has spent his tenure pushing the military to raise standards for officers and enlisted personnel. Multiple Pentagon officials described the situation as another example of dysfunction within the Army’s senior leadership.

One senior Pentagon official strongly defended the proposed requirements, arguing that a 1000 SAT score represents a modest standard for someone who could eventually be responsible for leading American soldiers into combat.

“We don’t want stupid people leading our soldiers,” the official said, while describing experiences with ROTC cadets who struggled to write properly or construct coherent sentences.

Officials also pointed out that other military branches maintain minimum academic requirements for ROTC commissioning regardless of scholarship status. Army ROTC currently does not require students to submit standardized test scores, despite ROTC producing a substantial portion of the Army’s incoming officers each year.

The dispute has also exposed tensions within Army leadership. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll reportedly was not consulted before either the original standards or their cancellation was issued, with the internal memos apparently never reaching his desk beforehand.

Hegseth has repeatedly argued that America’s military needs to return its focus to merit, discipline, physical fitness and combat readiness. He has already pushed tougher fitness and grooming expectations while criticizing what he considers declining standards among senior officers.

The SAT proposal may not be dead permanently. The Army says it is still evaluating potential changes to ROTC cadet requirements and that any future policy will undergo review by senior Army leadership.

For Hegseth, the controversy goes beyond one standardized test. His broader argument is that Americans entrusted with leading soldiers should have to demonstrate basic academic and physical competence, and Pentagon officials supportive of the proposal believe establishing minimum test scores should be an obvious part of that standard.