Pentagon creates ‘Joint Warfighting Evaluation’ for general and admiral promotions

Officers on their way to the general and admiral ranks will have another benchmark to meet before picking their first star.

The “Joint Warfighting Evaluation” will be used to assess the “operational analysis, communications, and decision-making skills” when officers are screened for promotion from O6 to O7, according to a recent memo from Undersecretary of Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata. Task & Purpose has confirmed that the memo, which has been shared on social media, is authentic.

“The evolving character of war and complexities of the global security environment demand a rigorous and standardized method for evaluating core competencies of our joint warfighters,” Tata wrote in the May 28 memo. “The [Joint Warfighting Evaluation] assessment will serve as an additional component of our talent management system by complementing our existing service processes, thereby ensuring the services identify and develop our most capable officers of positions of greater responsibility.”

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The Pentagon did not provide any additional information about Tata’s memo, which establishes an “Operational Planning Team” to develop the new evaluation.

The O6 paygrade is the last rung in the field-grade officer ladder, with the next grade up, O7, marking the start of the flag officer ranks, which includes generals and admirals.

In the context of general and flag officer promotions, “joint warfighting experience” typically refers to assignments at commands in charge of more than one military branch that last roughly 2 years, said Katherine Kuzminski, of the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington, D.C.

“The updated policy is an evolution of current law and policy, rather than a break from it,” Kuzminski told Task & Purpose.

The Goldwater-Nichols Act, a law passed by Congress in 1986, requires officers to serve in joint duty assignments before they can be selected for promotion to brigadier general or rear admiral (lower half), Kuzmiksi said. Officers are currently required to serve at least 22 months on such assignments, which can include serving with a combatant command, the Joint Staff, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and other defense agencies.

“The Operational Planning Team will be able to explore where there are robust efforts underway within each of the services and military departments, and has the opportunity to take the strengths of the existing Goldwater-Nichols requirements (which can be treated as simply a ‘box checking’ exercise) to better capture the value of Joint experience for the future leadership cadre of the services and the Joint Force,” Kuzminski said.

The team will also have an opportunity to detail what effective joint experience entails and which criteria should be used to assess whether officers are fit to continue serving or be assigned to joint leadership positions of responsibility, she said.

Former Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller will serve as chairman of a committee that will lead the planning team, according to Tata’s memo.

Scheller, who was court-martialed after he publicly criticized the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, has served as senior advisor to the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness since April 2025.

This latest effort follows a separate mandate from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that “joint warfighting ability” be one of the criteria considered when officers and noncommissioned officers are evaluated for promotions.

“We need objective markers when it comes to meritocracy in the military selection system,” Scheller wrote in a June 3 social media post in response to Task & Purpose’s story about Hegseth’s directive. “We need the best warfighters to demonstrate their ability to solve a military problem.”