{"id":45501,"date":"2023-06-28T16:53:46","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T16:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/06\/28\/exclusive-army-secretary-talks-force-structure-cuts-sof-reform\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:16:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:16:51","slug":"exclusive-army-secretary-talks-force-structure-cuts-sof-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/interviews\/2023\/06\/28\/exclusive-army-secretary-talks-force-structure-cuts-sof-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Army secretary talks force structure cuts, SOF \u2018reform\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Army is preparing to ax some units and restructure others, the service\u2019s top civilian told Army Times in an exclusive phone interview Friday, but it\u2019s still not clear when and how the changes will play out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Army Secretary Christine Wormuth also attributed \u201csome\u201d of the moves to \u201cthe recruiting challenges that we\u2019ve been experiencing\u2026if we don\u2019t turn our recruiting situation around, we will likely have to contemplate additional force structure changes, because we can\u2019t have unready forces; we can\u2019t have hollow formations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wormuth detailed a four-pronged effort to identify and eliminate excess units \u2014 and restructure others to remove unnecessary billets \u2014 that she said will allow the force to stand up purpose-built units for short-range air defense, indirect fires protection and multidomain operations. \u201cWe are transforming&#8230;to an Army that is focused on multidomain operations against a near-peer competitor, and that requires us to bring in new capabilities [and] new force structure,\u201d she argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cuts will come following an analysis of force needs at the soldier level, based on unit purpose; at the unit level, based on deployment rates; restructuring of Army special operations; and reducing or eliminating \u201cclose-combat forces\u201d that were purpose-built for the War on Terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"6720\" height=\"4480\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/intelligence-operations-in-contested-environment.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-87598\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/intelligence-operations-in-contested-environment.jpg.jpg 6720w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/intelligence-operations-in-contested-environment.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/intelligence-operations-in-contested-environment.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/intelligence-operations-in-contested-environment.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/intelligence-operations-in-contested-environment.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/intelligence-operations-in-contested-environment.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 6720px) 100vw, 6720px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A soldier assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group pulls security during a training exercise at Camp McGregor, New Mexico, April 2, 2020. (Spc. Peter Seidler\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Military analyst Thomas Spoehr, a retired Army lieutenant general who heads the conservative Heritage Foundation\u2019s defense policy center, agreed with Wormuth\u2019s assessment of the force\u2019s needs. But Spoehr, whose comments came via email, criticized some elements of the service\u2019s approach and argued that Congress should further scrutinize whether the Army has enough people to man its 31 brigade combat teams today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe don\u2019t know yet what the Army will have to cut, but it cannot sustain the force structure it has, the 31 brigade combat teams, at an acceptable level of readiness at an end strength of 452,000,\u201d Spoehr said. Before recruiting collapsed, the service wanted 485,000 soldiers to support the same number of brigades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The secretary, however, said that changes to manning guidance \u2014 headquarters-issued guidelines that prescribe manning percentages across the force by variables like unit or career field \u2014 can help ensure critical units, such as those on the Immediate Response Force, \u201cremain highly ready.\u201d She likened manning guidance to \u201cthe bridge from where we are today, with a considerable amount of overstructure, to where we\u2019re trying to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spoehr described Wormuth\u2019s intended use of manning guidance as \u201ccompletely understandable, and the Army has no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the Heritage Foundation analyst argued the situation is dire if this is what\u2019s required to keep the service\u2019s on-call units ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c[Manning guidance] represents only a band-aid on a sucking chest wound,\u201d Spoehr said. \u201cIt lowers expectations but does nothing to solve the fundamental readiness problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How will the Army decide what to cut?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service\u2019s efforts to create space for the new units requires significant reduction of what Wormuth termed \u201coverstructure,\u201d or units and positions that don\u2019t align with the Army\u2019s projected mission, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One way to find it, she said, is the ongoing \u201cpeople night court\u201d process that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2023\/05\/03\/short-handed-army-to-miss-recruiting-goal-for-second-year-in-a-row\/\" target=\"_blank\">she described to Congress in May<\/a>. Each of the service\u2019s career fields were asked to \u201clay out where their people are in which formations and provide an assessment \u2014 do we really need every single one of those people at every echelon?\u201d One example from her May testimony to a Senate committee focused on cooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"5892\" height=\"3954\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635969308876610073-gettyimages-465166484jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-78497\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635969308876610073-gettyimages-465166484jpg.jpg 5892w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635969308876610073-gettyimages-465166484jpg.jpg?resize=300,201 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635969308876610073-gettyimages-465166484jpg.jpg?resize=768,515 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635969308876610073-gettyimages-465166484jpg.jpg?resize=1024,687 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635969308876610073-gettyimages-465166484jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1031 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635969308876610073-gettyimages-465166484jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1374 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 5892px) 100vw, 5892px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Christine Wormuth testifies to Congress in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 3, 2015 in Washington, D.C. (Gabriella Demczuk\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDo we need to have 60 cooks [in a unit]?\u201d Wormuth told lawmakers. \u201cOr can we use 40 cooks?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The secretary also told Army Times the service developed a \u201cunit priority list\u201d from an analysis of historical deployment data. Units that hadn\u2019t deployed recently \u2014 or perhaps at all \u2014 were evaluated as potential candidates for reductions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat became another place where we could make some reductions without necessarily having to take down any flags,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spoehr of the Heritage Foundation decried the unit priority list as \u201ca gamble\u201d by which the Army is \u201chollowing out units in the hope they won\u2019t actually have to be deployed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But some of the service\u2019s most heavily utilized units, those in the special operations community, face cuts amid a broader \u201creform\u201d process that Wormuth said the Army will approach \u201cin a very careful way, obviously, given\u2026[their] highly specialized nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The secretary noted that the Army\u2019s special operations community has more than doubled in size since the Sept. 11 attacks. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at their functions\u2026that can be provided by conventional Army forces,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wormuth identified \u201cenablers,\u201d or non-special operations qualified support personnel, as a target for cuts, arguing that \u201cgeneral purpose forces can provide that support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But she offered little detail about the fourth area in which the service plans to draw down: \u201cclose-combat forces,\u201d including those \u201cparts of our formations that were purpose-designed for those kinds of fights [such as counterinsurgency and counterterrorism] where we may not need quite as much capacity going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Army-SFAB-training.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-87601\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Army-SFAB-training.jpg.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Army-SFAB-training.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Army-SFAB-training.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Army-SFAB-training.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A soldier conducts partner training in Afghanistan in 2021. (Lt. Matt Chandler\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked to elaborate on what types of combat units she believes are on the chopping block, Wormuth demurred and quipped, \u201cThat\u2019s the kind of thing\u2026that I need to talk to the [Congressional] oversight committees about,\u201d before commenting publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spoehr warned against cutting too deep in this arena, even if falling end strength numbers mean the Army \u201cwill have no choice\u201d but to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Army promised not to repeat the lessons of Vietnam when after that conflict the service cut all its counter-insurgency forces and the supporting intellectual foundations, with the idea that we will \u2018never do that again,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite her optimism that the Army is progressing well in its force structure evolution, the service\u2019s top civilian cautioned, though, that the recruiting crisis could derail the plan or damage the Army\u2019s ability to stay ready in the interim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe really need to continue to work hard to solve our recruiting challenges,\u201d she added, lest it force \u201cadditional\u201d cuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Army Secretary Christine Wormuth spoke with Army Times about how and where the service will make its cuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":87592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,13,14,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3470],"class_list":["post-45501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-interviews","category-land","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"VEDSI67X7BELZKY44M7SWLDGAQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2023\/06\/28\/exclusive-army-secretary-talks-force-structure-cuts-sof-reform\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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