Hegseth wants deep cuts to active-duty 4-star generals, admirals

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals in the U.S. military to be cut by at least 20 percent, according to a new memo released Monday.

In the order, dated May 5, Hegseth also directed senior Pentagon leadership to slash the number of general officers in the National Guard by a minimum of 20 percent, and cut the total number of general and flag officers — those with the rank of one star or higher — across the military by 10 percent. 

In a video posted to social media later on Monday, Hegseth announced that the order, which he referred to as "Less Generals, more GIs," would "shift resources from bloated headquarter elements to our warfighters."

The move would take an axe to the already limited number of four-star generals and admirals, as there were just 37 such individuals as of 2023. Hegseth’s directive would put that number south of 30.

The move would also diminish the roughly 900 current general and flag officers to below 720.

Hegseth writes that the cuts are a “critical step” in “removing redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership by reducing excess general and flag officer positions.”

In ensuring the lethality of the military, “we must cultivate exceptional senior leaders who drive innovation and operational excellence, unencumbered by unnecessary bureaucratic layers that hinder their growth and effectiveness,” according to Hegseth.

The Pentagon has steadily been making moves to significantly cut both the Defense Department’s civilian workforce and its military officers, as part of President Trump’s efforts to greatly shrink the federal government.

The Trump administration in February purged senior military leadership with the removal of former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. CQ Brown and Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Lisa Franchetti, among others.

That was followed by reports the Pentagon was considering consolidating combatant commands, such as merging U.S. European Command and U.S. African Command.

Several more top military brass have since been fired, including Gen. Timothy Haugh, the head of both the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, who Trump removed without explanation in early April.

And last week, Hegseth ordered the Army to reduce the number of its general officers, cut programs and consolidate offices, commands and headquarters.

As part of that effort, Hegseth wants to consolidate Army Futures Command — a four-star command established in 2018 during President Trump’s first term and meant to reform the service’s acquisition process — into one command with Training and Doctrine Command.

Hegseth ordered Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll to “implement a comprehensive transformation strategy, streamline its force structure, eliminate wasteful spending, reform acquisition, modernize inefficient defense contracts, and overcome parochial interests to rebuild our Army, restore the warrior ethos and reestablish deterrence,” he wrote in a memo published April 30.

The Pentagon chief has made no secret of his dislike of the number of senior generals in the military, even touching on that view during his confirmation hearing in January.

Hegseth has said that he believes more than a third of officers are “actively complicit” in the politicization of the military, he told radio host Hugh Hewitt last June. 

And in a November podcast hosted by Shawn Ryan, Hegseth claimed that senior officers in the military are “playing by all the wrong rules” to cater to “ideologues” in Washington, D.C., arguing that they’ll “do any social justice, gender, climate, extremism crap because it gets them checked to the next level.”