The purpose of this research is to study the formation of Army career officers in the Course of Command and Staff College of the Brazilian Army, by verifying the impacts of defense policies in course content, and graduating papers, after the creation of the Ministry of Defense. For this, we investigated the related legislation, the curriculum, the titles of thesis and key-words that gave us a partial idea of how military are formed, and how they think the issues related to defense. We found that policies and national defense strategies, along with new situations in the field of international security, and defense after the Cold War, established changes in the formation of career officers during the 1999-2013 period. Thus, we identified the influences of law, guidelines and actions established by the Ministry of Defense, demonstrating that the Army is not entirely refractory and adapts to transformations required by other agencies and by events external to the institution, though in a low way and at its own path. However, it is worth noting that the changes affect, but still do not interfere with military autonomy. The observed modifications were created by the military themselves, who set the changing criteria according to Army interests and perspectives reaffirming institutional autonomy. This work contributes to the discussions on the Brazilian military education, and on the desired Armed Forces within the context of the strategic profile planned by the country according to democratic principles.