For most of our nation’s history, we did not have a Department of Defense. We had a Department of War. That name was not accidental. It reflected a clear understanding of purpose: the United States military exists to fight and win the nation’s wars. Not to mirror cultural trends. Not to absorb the ideological priorities of elite universities. Not to serve as a laboratory for social experimentation. Its mission is singular: to defend the United States of America and, when necessary, defeat those who threaten it.
Yet increasingly, American taxpayers are underwriting a military culture that appears shaped less by battlefield realities and more by the intellectual fashions of institutions like Harvard. Based on an overview of Harvard Kennedy School initiatives, the university maintains a wide range of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs embedded across its schools and fellowships. While this is something the Biden administration may have tolerated, the Trump administration is committed to ending this woke madness.
The Women and Public Policy Program promotes initiatives such as “Work and Gender Equity,” focused on “debiasing systems,” as well as research designed to advance gender equity in political participation. The Center for Public Leadership runs an Equity Fellowship recruiting students committed to “dismantling barriers to equity across society.” Even when offices are rebranded, such as renaming the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the Office of Community and Belonging, the core mission remains unchanged.
Harvard is free to pursue its priorities. It is a private institution with its own governing philosophy. The question is not whether Harvard can advance equity initiatives or host academic fellowships. The question is whether this woke university should be involved in any way with the Department of War. Hard-working American taxpayers expect security and strength, not their money to be going to a lefty university with a $60 billion endowment.
We can’t forget the firestorm surrounding the Harvard Kennedy School’s appointment of Chelsea Manning, convicted of leaking classified materials, as a visiting fellow before the fellowship was rescinded. These episodes may be framed by some as academic exercises in dialogue and reform. But to many Americans, they underscore a deeper concern: the values and priorities dominating elite academic spaces are increasingly influencing institutions whose primary responsibility is national defense.
War is not a seminar. It is not a panel discussion. It is not an equity workshop. War is violent, unforgiving, and decisive. Our adversaries are not calibrating their forces around inclusive language or social frameworks. China is modernizing its navy and expanding its missile capabilities. Russia is refining electronic warfare tactics and testing NATO’s resolve. Iran and North Korea continue to poke and prod at the West. In that environment, the United States military must be ruthlessly focused on readiness, lethality, cohesion, and strategic superiority.
There is nothing wrong with educating military leaders in history, strategy, and the ethical dimensions of command. In fact, such education is essential. But education must serve combat effectiveness, not ideological conformity. Standards must be anchored in performance and capability, not in political fashion. Promotions and training priorities must reflect what wins wars, not what earns applause on a university campus.
The American soldier deserves clarity of mission. He or she deserves leadership that emphasizes discipline, physical excellence, and devotion to country. And the American taxpayer deserves assurance that defense dollars are being spent to sharpen the spear, not to rebrand bureaucracies or replicate academic activism within the ranks.
The original name, Department of War, conveyed urgency and realism. It acknowledged that peace is preserved through strength and that strength requires seriousness of purpose. Our military must be oriented toward victory above all else. Not because dialogue and fairness are unimportant in civil society, but because the battlefield is governed by different laws.
The United States of America remains the greatest country in the history of the world, not by accident, but because generations of Americans understood the difference between academic debate and existential conflict. It is time to remember that distinction and ensure our soldiers are adopting the warfighter mindset, not the woke mind virus.
James Fitzpatrick is a U.S. Army veteran, a former appointee in the Trump 45 administration and director of the Center to Advance Security in America.
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