By Hank Berrien | The Daily Wire
The U.S. Army has canceled its Command Assessment Program, which evaluated candidates for promotion and was implemented “with the stated goal of reducing conscious and unconscious biases,” as Military Times reported.
A 2022 paper published in the U.S. Army War College Quarterly noted of the program:
“The Army’s Command Assessment Program executes a comprehensive battery of evaluations to assess talent for command positions while taking measures to minimize bias. … A panel conducts double-blind interviews of the candidates behind a screen to limit unconscious bias related to race and ethnicity. Panel members participate in antibias training just before the initial interview process and receive a shorter refresher each day they serve on the panel.
Individuals who have previously worked with candidates are asked to complete the Army Commander Evaluation Tool, which is intended to reflect fitness for command and identify counterproductive behaviors. These processes (double-blind interview, bias training, and anonymous peer and subordinate feedback) are notable examples of processes put in place to combat bias and should be considered best practices.”
“The Army has embraced talent management transformation amid the backdrop of a global pandemic that has altered the way Americans work, and the Army has done so amid civil unrest that has resulted in part from systemic racism,” the paper claimed.
“Diversity can refer to both demographics and thought. Diversity of thought, termed ‘cognitive diversity,’ may arise from variations in background, experience and perspective. One framework for diversity consists of primary dimensions, such as age, sexual orientation, physical abilities, race, gender, spiritual beliefs, and class …”
The Command Assessment Program replaced the Army’s Centralized Selection Board/List, which was not based on peer evaluations and behavioral analysis. “Former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth made CAP an official program of record just days before President Donald Trump took office,” Military Times pointed out.
“More than half of the Army’s senior officers are turning down opportunities to command … Historically, 85% of those participants have been deemed fit for command. Yet this year, 54% of eligible officers voluntarily chose not to participate — a significant uptick from the 40% average opt-out rate seen since 2019,” Military.com reported last December.
First published on The Daily Wire
Good riddance.
Promotions across @DeptofDefense will ONLY be based on merit & performance. pic.twitter.com/ttGRGsIByA
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) September 3, 2025
Some responses:
“It was 100% weaponized.”
“It is still going to be a problem. In the Air Force I was on a Force Distribution board for Wing Staff Agencies and not a single male was selected to compete for promotion from any of the agencies. Having been in my unit for 5 years, as the second highest rank, I had pretty good relations with the various agencies… Some of those who deserved promotion weren’t even considered and the one who was considered from our unit had no particularly remarkable achievement. This was after you cut DEI. The problem is going to be that DEI hires are still in charge. In my 11 years, I only ever had 1 male superintendent. I have other stories that could be said, but it’s not going to be that easy to fix this and if you don’t clean house, they will come back even stronger.”
“Good. It was standard practice that if you were a female, especially of color, you were getting promoted ahead of peers. Leadership was more concerned about IG/EO complaints.”
“I made E-6 in 3 years, filled a E-8 bullet for years, multiple command level collaterals, passed every advancement exam with the highest marks… but I told our nMMCM that I had a problem with E-6 trans being ranked higher than me… the answer is received was she was in college. I told him being on the ship for more than 4 hours a day and doing your primary job was more important, I was told then I would never make chief as long as he had breath in his lungs…. failed to make chief…. 5 times before I was medically retired. Long and short is I will believe it when I see it.”
“Thank you! When I retired in January, I wasn’t sad about it because the military I joined 22 years ago had been turned into a progressive social experiment. It was no longer about the uniform. We weren’t one team with one mission. Everything was about identity.”
“The U.S. military must be a meritocracy. The stakes their are simply too high to promote on any criteria other than ability and achievement.”
“Yet the defense contractors continue to practice this level of discrimination. From hiring to promotion the gatekeepers keep DEI alive and well. When is something going to be done about that?”
“Still got plenty of DEI folks who went underground.”
“About time. I want the medic, ground pounder, flier, etc. next to me to be the best there is at their job. Lives literally depend on their skill sets.”
“Bringing back the military as it was meant to be. The military I remember serving! I can’t imagine the absolute disgrace it’s become in the past years. Thank you Pete!”
“Outstanding Mr. Hegseth. Finally, installing common sense on promotions and basing them on action and experience NOT devisive DEI crap.”
“This is exactly what everyone wants: “color-blind” treatment! No one cares what race you are but only the quality of the job you do so that anyone can advance!”
“That was nothing more than handing out participation trophies for the mediocre contingent of the military. If they can’t make it on merit, they shouldn’t be there at all…and if they can’t figure out their gender, they shouldn’t be enlisted in the first place.”
Army cancels Biden-era promotion program aimed at eliminating bias
By Zita Ballinger Fletcher | Military Times
Following a review last month, the U.S. Army has canceled its Command Assessment Program, formally established as a program of record in the last days of the Biden administration.
Starting in 2019 as a pilot program for selecting battalion commanders, CAP was implemented throughout the Army during 2020 with the stated goal of reducing conscious and unconscious biases and using new methods, including psychology and peer assessments, to evaluate candidates for command roles.
It replaced the Army’s longstanding Centralized Selection Board/List, or CSL, a promotion system based on a series of performance factors.
The CAP program, by contrast, relied heavily on peer evaluations and behavioral analysis. Additionally, measures were introduced into the program with the stated goal of protecting minorities from bias.
“The battery of psychometric assessments employs several different instruments to measure cognitive capacity, emotional intelligence, conscientiousness, self-awareness, and other behavioral traits,” according to Army documents on CAP first published in January.
Those documents noted that subjectivity was a factor that had to be considered in assessing candidates’ behavior.
“Though not completely hidden, assessing intellect through casual observation is highly subjective and contextual,” Army officials noted.
Former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth made CAP an official program of record just days before President Donald Trump took office.
“The CAP process puts a priority on screening out individuals who have counterproductive leadership behaviors,” Wormuth stated previously in a podcast. “You can be confident that the folks coming out of CAP who are going into command … are a lot less likely to have counterproductive leadership tendencies.”
While CAP was praised by some for its focus on evaluating positive personality traits in leadership, it cannot be said, to this point, to have generated additional interest in promotion within the Army.
In 2024, a record 54% of officers chose not to participate in the program — a jump from the 40% average in 2019 before CAP was widely introduced into the service.
Over the last several months, the Trump administration has rolled back many policies and procedures established by Biden administration officials — CAP now being one of them.
The Department of the Army rescinded CAP months ago, pending potential changes to the program’s evaluation criteria. The service has since decided to scrap the program altogether, and will now revert to its previous CSL system.
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