U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has told the Pentagon to cut down on the number of the highest-ranking military leaders. He wants to get rid of at least 20% of the four-star generals and admirals. These are the people at the very top of the military chain of command. As of 2023, there were 37 officers with four stars across all branches of the military.
But that’s not all. Hegseth also wants to reduce the number of generals in the National Guard by 20%. And he wants the entire military—Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and others—to reduce the total number of generals and admirals with one star or more by 10%. Right now, there are about 900 of these senior officers across the U.S. military.
In a message to Pentagon leaders, Hegseth said these cuts are very important. He thinks there are too many high-ranking officers, which leads to confusion and makes the military less effective. He wants to simplify things, get rid of unnecessary positions, and make the leadership more focused and easier to manage.
This decision is part of a larger effort by the government to reduce the size of federal agencies, including the military. The Pentagon has already been talking about ways to reorganize and cut back. One idea is to combine some of its regional commands. For example, there’s talk of merging the U.S. European Command, which oversees military operations in Europe, with the U.S. Africa Command, which handles Africa. Combining these commands would reduce the number of senior leaders needed to run them.
Hegseth has long believed that the military has too many top-level officers. He mentioned this in public interviews and during the process of becoming Secretary of Defense. He says that many senior officers are too focused on politics instead of doing what’s best for the military. In a podcast last year, he said he believes about one-third of the top generals are helping turn the military into a political organization. He said these officers go along with whatever is popular in Washington, D.C., rather than focusing on what the military actually needs.
He also said that many of these leaders are willing to follow whatever trend is pushed by political leaders—whether it’s about social justice, gender issues, climate change, or fighting extremism—just so they can get promoted. He criticized them for playing political games instead of sticking to what he sees as the real mission of the military.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration, with Hegseth’s support, already made big changes to military leadership. In February, they fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the chief of the Navy. That same night, Hegseth said he was also looking to replace the top military lawyers—called Judge Advocates General—for the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
These leadership changes, along with the cuts Hegseth is now ordering, show a clear push to reshape how the military is run and to reduce the number of high-ranking officers in charge.
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