Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will announce plans to reduce the number of leadership positions allotted to generals and admirals by 20% during his State of the Force address on Wednesday.
The services will be expected to complete the reductions by the start of 2027. Some of the positions will be downgraded rather than eliminated altogether.
Hegseth will address junior officers and enlisted leaders at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, where he will make the reduction announcement, a war department official confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
It comes about a year and a half after the secretary issued a memo directing a minimum of 10% cuts to general and flag officers, which he’s now doubling to 20%, a number first obtained by Fox News. That May 2025 memo also called for a reduction of at least 20% in 4-star positions across the Active Component and at least a 20% reduction in general officers in the National Guard.
Hegseth said at the time he wanted “Less Generals, more GIs” and to “shift resources from bloated headquarters elements to our warfighters.”
“This is not a slash-and-burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers,” he said at the time. “This has been a deliberative process, working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff with one goal: maximizing strategic readiness and operational effectiveness by making prudent reductions in the general and flag officer ranks.”
The secretary has overseen significant changes in his tenure, including ending diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and related jobs; firing several senior leaders with little explanation; and prioritizing fitness and grooming standards. His effort to prioritize “warfighters” has garnered both support and criticism from former military leaders, veterans, and on Capitol Hill.
The military intentionally requested that fit service members be in attendance for Wednesday’s speech.
“I hope we continue to see the secretary of war take a flamethrower to the rot inside this institution, the bureaucracy and policies that have put DEI ahead of merit and distracted from warfighting,” a Pentagon official told the Washington Examiner. “We want woke ideology in the rearview mirror. Not one step back.”
This is his second major address at Quantico, following a similar speech he gave exactly a year ago. President Donald Trump joined him last time.
Retired Navy SEAL Bill Brown, a supporter of Hegseth, told the Washington Examiner: “Secretary Pete Hegseth has already begun reshaping the force around one purpose, to have a faster, deadlier military ready for how wars are actually fought now. With all the speculation around tomorrow’s speech, what I hope to hear is that he intends to keep pushing that reform forward… The U.S. military is still too top-heavy, carrying senior overhead designed for an analog era that today’s technology has made redundant. Every dollar and every hour saved by cutting that overhead can be redirected to the drones, munitions, and combat power that decide modern fights.”
Hegseth’s address comes as the military is still on a war footing in the Middle East, even as American and Iranian forces have had few recent engagements. There are roughly 50,000 U.S. service members in the region.
EMERGING ERA OF WARFIGHTING WITH AI AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS FORCES CHANGES TO READINESS VIEWPOINTS
Ninety-five U.S. service members have been injured this month alone, according to the Pentagon’s public casualty tracking database. The Pentagon has not provided details of any successful Iranian attack on U.S. forces. One service member, Capt. Bianca Wilkerson, 37, died after experiencing a medical emergency Sept. 18 while flying to the Middle East.
Trump recently floated the possibility of authorizing a resumption of a more intense military campaign following the midterm elections in November.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
