Pentagon transfers women in combat study to Johns Hopkins APL

The U.S. Department of Defense has assigned the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to conduct a yearslong study on the operational effectiveness of women in combat roles. A Defense Department spokesperson confirmed the transfer but declined to explain why the project moved from the Institute for Defense Analyses in Alexandria, Virginia.

The study was first outlined in a December 2025 memo by Anthony Tata, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. The memo instructed the Institute for Defense Analyses to evaluate mixed-gender units following the 2013 policy that lifted restrictions on women serving in combat positions.

Civil rights groups and military advocates are challenging the change. They argue the Pentagon selected the Johns Hopkins lab to utilize Yevgeniya Pinelis, a researcher who authored a 2015 study on Marine Corps combat units. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has cited Pinelis’s 2015 work, which found negative effects from integrating women into those units, in his book The War on Warriors and in policy discussions.

Gillian Thomas, senior counsel for the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, stated that the group has received no transparency regarding the study’s intent or the reason for the transfer. Thomas said, "It’s a matter of national security to understand why the Pentagon is considering, potentially compromising women’s ability to serve."

The ACLU and the Service Women’s Action Network filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The suit seeks to force the Defense Department to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted in August. Federal law requires the department to acknowledge or deny such requests within 20 business days.

The lawsuit describes Pinelis’s 2015 research as having a flawed design and biased analysis. It notes the study relied on a small pool of participants with unequal experience and training levels. The court filing also questions APL’s expertise in studying occupation-specific performance.

Johns Hopkins University is the largest recipient of Pentagon contracts among 15 federally funded research centers. The Applied Physics Laboratory, located in Laurel, generated approximately $2.8 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ending June 2025. That amount represents about one-third of the university’s total revenue. The university’s financial report attributes about 70% of APL’s income during the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years to the Department of War. Over the last decade, the Defense Department awarded APL about $12 billion in contracts.