Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will reportedly double his earlier reduction of the armed forces’ most senior officers. The Pentagon chief is expected to make the announcement during a Wednesday speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.
Pete Hegseth is expected to order a 20% reduction in general and admiral billets, claims report
Two U.S. officials told Reuters that Hegseth will unveil the reduction in front of hundreds of junior officers and enlisted personnel. The cut applies to one- to four-star generals and admirals, roughly 800 billets in total, and doubles the 10% reduction Hegseth ordered last spring. According to the Associated Press, the Pentagon wants the services to finish the job by January 1, 2027.
One official claims the plan avoids outright firings. Instead, some future jobs would carry a lower rank, while others would disappear entirely. Hegseth pitched last year’s smaller cut as a way to strip out what he called “redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership” and “unnecessary bureaucratic layers,” according to a May 2025 memo.
The proposal has drawn criticism on Capitol Hill. Sen. Jack Reed, the Rhode Island Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the cuts “should alarm every American.” Reed said, “Congress has been clear with the Secretary that he must consult this body and explain his reasoning for senior officer removals and promotion holds. To date, we have not received satisfactory answers.”
He added that the military is already stretched thin by global operations: “Eliminating senior positions and leaders now will add to that strain and disrupt command when continuity matters most.” Hegseth also faces impeachment articles from Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, over his handling of the Pentagon and the Iran war.
The Pentagon released a separate memo on Tuesday signed by Pete Hegseth that bars the department from appointing civilians as tenured faculty at U.S. Military Service Academies. The memo frames the change as a push to refocus the academies on “warfighting.”
