The following is the Aug. 29, 2022, report from the Naming Commission on recommended changes to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy to rename assets named for those affiliated with the Confederacy.
From the report
This is Part II of the Naming Commission’s Final Report, which addresses assets on the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point and the United States Naval Academy (USNA) at Annapolis and fulfills the requirements mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, Section 370 for those institutions.
Understanding the five major duties of the Commission and the mandated timeline, the Commission quickly established several lines of effort to determine the scope of Confederate States of America-affiliated assets across the Department of Defense. This included obtaining lists of all Service assets based on Commission criteria; gathering public feedback through base visits, discussions with local elected officials, and direct public input via an official website; and identifying those assets not under the Commission’s remit, such as museums and state-controlled Army National Guard bases. As a result of these multiple data inputs – and with Senate Armed Services Committee/ House Armed Services Committee concurrence – the Commission determined the best way forward was for the Commission to handle the base renamings and the Services to manage all Confederacy-affiliated asset changes on their bases.
The Commission also determined it has all necessary data to issue a final report on USMA and USNA. The Commission decided to submit a final report for Confederacy-affiliated assets on the academies because it meets the intent for the military departments to remediate all Confederacy-affiliated assets, there are few Confederacy-affiliated assets on either campus, neither has a base renaming requirement, and both institutions have well-established memorialization processes. All Section 370 requirements for the academies are met with this report, leaving no reason to delay the Services from implementing necessary changes.
The Commission recommends that the Secretary of Defense authorize the Secretaries of the Army and Navy to commence its recommended removal and renaming activities at USMA and USNA using those bases’ long-standing memorialization procedures. The Commission identified a small number of Confederacy-affiliated assets on both campuses that require renaming, relocating, modification, or removal. Some Confederacy-affiliated assets on West Point, while identified as not being under the remit of the Commission, are recommended for a final disposition review by West Point using its memorialization process.
Download the document here.
