Pete Hegseth has given orders to trim the top brass at the Pentagon, part of his ongoing effort to streamline a bloated military bureaucracy.
Hegseth's memo directs the Pentagon to eliminate "redundant" positions to make the armed forces more lethal and efficient.
"Through these measures, we will uphold our position as the most lethal fighting force in the world, achieving peace through strength and ensuring greater efficiency, innovation, and preparedness for any challenge that lies ahead,” Hegseth wrote.
The ratio of senior officers to enlisted personnel has increased dramatically in recent years. The number of four-star officers jumped 107% from 1965 to 2013, according to the Congressional Reseach Service.
Critics of the modern military, including Hegseth, have often said the armed forces have grown bloated and top-heavy, and Hegseth framed his latest shakeup as an effort to cut bureaucracy and prioritize the common soldier.
"This is not a slash-and-burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers,” Hegseth said in a video on X.
“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.”
Hegseth said the overhaul will be the largest the Pentagon has experienced since the 1980s and will take place in two stages.
In the first, there will be a minimum 20% reduction in active-duty four-star generals and admirals and a minimum 20% reduction of general officers in the National Guard.
Phase two will include an additional 10% reduction in general and flag officers.
This will take place alongside a systematic review of the Unified Command Plan, which is a classified document that designates the missions and geographic areas of responsibility for each of the military's combat commands.
Critics have complained about Hegseth's lack of senior military experience ever since Trump recruited him to shake up the Pentagon and restore a focus on warfighting and lethality.
Hegseth's defenders have touted the Army vet as an outsider who will deliver necessary reforms to a "woke" Pentagon resistant to change. Hegseth has not hesitated to fire top military officers who pushed a divisive "diversity" agenda, like former chairman of the Joint Chiefs C.Q. Brown.
The White House has dismissed ongoing criticism of Hegseth, and dissension from within the Pentagon itself, as a defensive response from the "Swamp" to Trump's military reforms.
