Pete Hegseth directs military academies that all future admissions will be based solely on merit

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday sent a memo to West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy, saying that all future admissions will be based solely on merit. 

"The Department owes it to our nation, our Service Members, and our young Americans applying to the MSAs to ensure admissions to these prestigious institutions are based exclusively on merit," Hegseth wrote in a memo to the academies. 

He added that this would ensure that only the "most qualified candidates" would be admitted.