Washington-based legal watchdog group Judicial Watch sued the Pentagon this week to produce documents that explain why the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) came to remove the long-held motto "Duty, Honor, Country" from its mission statement.
On March 11, the Superintendent of the USMA Lieutenant General Steve Gilland sent a memo titled "A Message to The Long Grey Line" where he declared a new mission statement for the academy at West Point. The new mission statement has the words "build, educate, train and inspire" but makes no mention of the other three. The change was met with immediate condemnation from alumni and civilians alike.
Judicial Watch told their online program Secrets that the lawsuit only came after the USMA refused to provide information about what, how and why the change was made.
"Given the woke virus infecting West Point, deleting the words 'Duty, Honor, Country' from its mission statement has sparked justified concern about what the Army's rising leadership is being taught at the United States Military Academy. And the unlawful stonewalling of the release of records about the issue makes matters worse," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.
The statement previously read, "To educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army."
The updated mission statement at the academy now reads, "To build, educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets to be commissioned leaders of character committed to the Army Values and ready for a lifetime of service to the Army and Nation."
The watchdog group noted that both the Secretary of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff approved of the change. In March, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. sent a letter to Gilland seeking answers on the decision.
Judicial Watch has been at the forefront of exposing the nihilistic drift of the service academies for several years. In 2023 records they exposed illustrate how the U.S. Air Force Academy has made race and gender instruction a top priority in the training of cadets.