在五角大楼宣布将因所谓“觉醒意识形态”与众多高校切断关系并削减资助后，弗吉尼亚州州长阿比盖尔·斯潘伯格回击了战争部长皮特·赫格塞斯。
五角大楼领导层一份以“PBH”（部长全名Peter Brian Hegseth的首字母缩写）签署的备忘录，在美军轰炸伊朗前夕发出，标题为“使高级军事学院机会与美国价值观保持一致”，该备忘录概述了对现有“专业军事教育机构”的审查——这些机构是我们培养以美国立国原则为基础的致命战士的基石。
据报道威廉与玛丽学院（位于弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡）将受到影响后，斯潘伯格在汉普顿的一所高中（位于两市中间）发表了抨击言论。
斯潘伯格称此举是“对弗吉尼亚州又一个自豪感的蛮横攻击”，因为备忘录称那里的高级军事学院项目将终止，军人将失去支持。
“五角大楼竟要退出这个长期以来在威廉与玛丽学院的奖学金项目，这简直是蛮横无礼，”她向该报表示。
五角大楼备忘录称，该部门将“不再投资于未能提升其领导人作战能力或破坏他们宣誓捍卫的价值观的机构”，并表示超过十几所学校面临终止合作。
曾在中央情报局工作的斯潘伯格表示，这一举措表明国防部“不理解大学的真正实力——无论是威廉与玛丽学院还是其他院校——在培养下一代军事领导层方面的重要性”。
她还指出，威廉与玛丽学院现任校长本人正是赫格塞斯的前任之一。
罗伯特·盖茨曾担任老布什总统的中央情报局局长，后来在小布什总统任内担任国防部长，直至奥巴马总统任期。
福克斯新闻数字版联系五角大楼寻求置评。
汉普顿道路地区的哥伦比亚广播公司附属机构获得的一份声明中，该学院管理层表示对赫格塞斯的举动“感到困惑和痛心”，称威廉与玛丽学院“是美国最军事友好的机构之一”，并支持其ROTC项目。
尽管威廉斯堡的这所学校可能面临裁撤，但该附属机构报道称，由基督教传教士帕特·罗伯逊创立的弗吉尼亚海滩摄政大学可能被视为替代机构之一。
备忘录中列出面临分离的学校包括哈佛大学、圣路易斯华盛顿大学、麻省理工学院、塔夫茨大学、乔治敦大学、乔治·华盛顿大学、普林斯顿大学、耶鲁大学、布朗大学和加拿大皇后大学。
被考虑作为替代的学院包括弗吉尼亚州林奇堡的自由大学、弗吉尼亚军事学院、弗吉尼亚理工大学、北卡罗来纳大学、克莱姆森大学和密歇根州希尔斯代尔学院。
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger hit back at Secretary of War Pete Hegseth after the Pentagon announced it would cut ties and funding relationships with numerous collegiate institutions over what it described as woke ideologies.
A Pentagon leadership memo initialed “PBH” — the secretary’s full name is Peter Brian Hegseth — sent just before the U.S. bombed Iran and entitled “Aligning senior service college opportunities with American values,” laid out an examination of standing “Professional Military Education institutions, [the] bedrock upon which we build lethal warfighters grounded in the founding principles that underpin American
Spanberger fired back after it was reported that the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., would be affected. The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot covered her remarks at a high school in Hampton — about halfway between the two cities.
Spanberger said the move is an “outrageous attack at yet another point of pride in Virginia,” as the memo said the Senior Service College programs there would be ended and that servicemembers would lose support.
“The idea that the Pentagon would pull back from this fellowship program that has been long a fixture at William & Mary is just outrageous,” she said, according to the paper.
The Pentagon memo said the department will “no longer invest in institutions that fail to sharpen our leaders’ warfighting capabilities or that undermine the very values they swore to defend,” and that more than a dozen schools faced termination.
Spanberger, who formerly worked for the CIA, said the move speaks to the Defense Department’s “lack of understanding of the real strength of universities, whether it’s William & Mary or others, in educating the next generation of military leadership,” according to the paper.
She also cited the fact William & Mary’s current chancellor is himself one of Hegseth’s predecessors.
Robert Gates was former President George H.W. Bush’s director of central intelligence and later served as Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush, remaining in the role into former President Barack Obama’s term.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Pentagon for comment.
In a statement obtained by Hampton Roads’ CBS affiliate, the college administration said it was “puzzled and saddened” by Hegseth’s move, saying that William & Mary is “among the country’s most military-friendly institutions” and also embraces its ROTC program.
While the Williamsburg school may be on the chopping block, the affiliate reported that Regent University in Virginia Beach — founded by Christian evangelist Pat Robertson — may be considered one of the replacement institutions.
In the memo, Harvard, Washington University in St. Louis, MIT, Tufts, Georgetown, George Washington University, Princeton, Yale, Brown and Queen’s University in Canada were listed as schools facing separation.
Colleges being considered as replacements include Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., The Citadel, Virginia Tech, the University of North Carolina, Clemson University and Hillsdale College in Michigan.
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