What should constitute the proper education of U.S. military officers? Who should be teaching at the war colleges and command and staff colleges? Until it was knocked out of the headlines by the Iran war, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s criticism of professional military education (PME) unleashed a debate among members of the national security community.In a Feb. 27 memorandum titled “Rebuilding the Warrior Ethos in Professional Military Education,” Hegseth directed that professional military education institutions must return to their fundamental mission of producing strategic thinkers free of bias, grounded in American ideals, and focused on core national security strategy. He emphasized that these institutions should focus on developing the warfighting capabilities of senior leaders and support the “founding principles” of the republic.Accordingly, Hegseth directed the undersecretary of war for personnel and readiness to impanel a Senior Service College Task Force to ensure that the War Department and professional military education institutions — the war colleges and command and staff colleges, which exist to develop strategic leaders capable of fighting and winning America’s wars — are not distracted by political ideology and DEI issues.