Cliff Notes – Hegseth orders 20% cut in number of top Pentagon officers

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth orders 20% cut in ranks of top officers: a reduction in four-star generals and admirals, alongside a 10% cut in general officers overall.
The initiative aims to streamline military leadership and remove redundant positions, emphasising that increased numbers do not equate to success.

Hegseth orders 20% cut in ranks of top officers

United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a 20% reduction in the number of four-star generals and admirals, the highest rank typically achieved in the US military.

In a memo issued on Monday, he also called for a 10% cut in general and flag officers and a 20% reduction in general officers in the National Guard.

The cuts aim to remove “redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership by reducing excess general and flag officer positions,” the memo stated.

In a video he posted on X with the tagline “fewer generals, more GIs,” Hegseth said, “more generals and admirals does not equal more success.”

He also denied that it was a “slash and burn” exercise.

Shakeup at the Pentagon

It adds to the turbulence at the US Defense Department, also known as the Pentagon, since President Donald Trump‘s administration took over in January.

In February, Trump sacked Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown Jr.

In the last three months, the heads of the Navy and Coast Guard, the general who headed the National Security Agency, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, a Navy admiral assigned to NATO, and three top military lawyers were also dismissed.

The Pentagon was also directed to slash its civilian workforce by at least 5% and impose a hiring freeze as part of the administration’s federal workforce overhaul.

Hegseth has often spoken out against the size of upper echelons of the military.

At his confirmation hearing, he stated there was “an inverse relationship between the size of staffs and victory on the battlefield.”