Army ends bias reduction assessment program for officer selection

The Army has canceled its Command Assessment Program (CAP), a promotion board that factored psychological assessments and potential biases into leadership considerations. 

“Good riddance,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X. “Promotions across [Department of Defense] will ONLY be based on merit & performance.”

The program, which was implemented broadly across the Army in 2020, was aimed at reducing conscious and subconscious biases and using peer assessments and behavioral analysis to choose candidates for command posts. 

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Former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth had made CAP an official program of record just before President Donald Trump took office. 

“The battery of psychometric assessments employs several different instruments to measure cognitive capacity, emotional intelligence, conscientiousness, self-awareness, and other behavioral traits,” Army documents explaining CAP said. 

Each year, around 2,000 candidates were assessed under CAP for Army leadership positions. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll paused the program and placed it under review last month.  

The program did not generate greater interest in leadership roles. Around 54% of the Army’s eligible senior officers chose not to participate in CAP last year, declining the opportunity to take on a command role. That was up from 40% in 2019. 

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The Army will now revert to its prior assessment process, Centralized Selection Board/List, (CSL), for choosing commanding officers. Officers who serve on CSL boards assess a candidate’s past assignments, performance and potential. 

CAP’s credibility was further compromised when Gen. Charles Hamilton, commander of Army Materiel Command, was relieved of duty. He was investigated for improperly influencing the selection process in favor of a lieutenant colonel who had failed her CAP assessment. An Inspector General investigation led to his firing in December 2024.

The cancellation comes in alignment with a June 20 memo from the under secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, which directed a review of military officer evaluations and selection processes.