{"id":128554,"date":"2025-05-13T22:01:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T22:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/05\/13\/hegseths-plan-to-trim-top-ranks-could-hit-more-than-120-officers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:40:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:40:29","slug":"hegseths-plan-to-trim-top-ranks-could-hit-more-than-120-officers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/05\/13\/hegseths-plan-to-trim-top-ranks-could-hit-more-than-120-officers\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth\u2019s plan to trim top ranks could hit more than 120 officers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s plans to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/breaking-news\/2025\/05\/05\/hegseth-directs-20-cut-to-top-military-leadership-positions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/breaking-news\/2025\/05\/05\/hegseth-directs-20-cut-to-top-military-leadership-positions\/\">slash the number of senior military leaders<\/a> across the services would cut more than 120 high-ranking officer jobs in the active duty and National Guard, including as many as nine top general slots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Based on the percentages outlined by Hegseth and his senior staff, 20% of the 44 authorized top active duty general and admiral jobs would be eliminated, along with 10% of the more than 800 one-, two- and three-star positions, according to numbers compiled by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cuts \u2014 about nine positions among four-star generals and 80 jobs across the other leadership levels \u2014 would affect dozens of active duty officers scattered across the five services as well as those who are in joint command jobs, such as those overseeing Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The changes would eliminate 33 senior National Guard positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/breaking-news\/2025\/05\/05\/hegseth-directs-20-cut-to-top-military-leadership-positions\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/US_Peru_Hegseth_31053.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Hegseth directs 20% cut to top military leadership positions<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">In a memo dated Monday, Hegseth said the cuts will remove \u201credundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cuts are part of a broader government-wide campaign to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/04\/28\/pentagon-jobs-cuts-delay-plans-to-expand-assault-suicide-prevention\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/04\/28\/pentagon-jobs-cuts-delay-plans-to-expand-assault-suicide-prevention\/\">slash spending and personnel<\/a> across federal agencies that is being pushed by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration and ally Elon Musk\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/pentagon\/2025\/03\/05\/pentagon-touts-80m-in-doge-cuts-but-public-receipts-dont-add-up\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/pentagon\/2025\/03\/05\/pentagon-touts-80m-in-doge-cuts-but-public-receipts-dont-add-up\/\">Department of Government Efficiency<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Hegseth and others, the intent of the military job reductions isn\u2019t to reduce the overall size of the force but to thin out the higher ranks and offset those cuts with additional troops at lower levels. While the overall number of service members may not drop, the salary costs will be lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some Democratic members of Congress have criticized Hegseth\u2019s plans as an attempt to politicize the military and oust leaders that don\u2019t agree with the Trump administration. The changes also come as the world is roiled by conflicts, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and as the U.S. has troops deployed in Syria and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shifting leadership responsibilities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Military officials expect that as various jobs are downgraded \u2014 for example from a lieutenant general in charge to a major general or brigadier general \u2014 more leadership responsibilities will fall on colonels or Navy captains and other subordinates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while many of the job cuts will come through attrition, as senior officers retire or move on, the services say they will have the flexibility to move people into higher priority positions and get rid of less critical posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMore generals and admirals does not equal more success,\u201d Hegseth said in a video describing his plan. \u201cThis is not a slash and burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers. Nothing could be further from the truth. This has been a deliberative process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Calling it the \u201cLess Generals, More GIs\u201d plan, he said the department will make \u201cprudent reductions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How the cuts will hit the military services<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Army, which is the largest service, is allowed to have a maximum of 219 high-ranking general officers and is expected to absorb a higher number of the cuts, while the Marine Corps will probably see little impact at the very top. There are only two Marine four-star generals, and the tiny Space Force also only has two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Marine Corps, with our general officers, like our civilians and senior executives, is by far the leanest service,\u201d said Lt. Col. Josh Benson, a Marine spokesman. \u201dDue to the already lean nature of the general officers in the Marine Corps, any cuts to Marine general officers will have an outsized impact to the Corps relative to other services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said nearly one-third \u2014 or 21 \u2014 of Marine generals hold two or three jobs each, and as many as 10 positions are already empty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Army leaders, meanwhile, have already developed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2025\/05\/01\/secdef-wields-axe-to-brass-hqs-formations-to-fashion-leaner-army\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2025\/05\/01\/secdef-wields-axe-to-brass-hqs-formations-to-fashion-leaner-army\/\">plans to merge or close<\/a> headquarters units and staff. As many as 40 general officer slots could be cut as a result, officials have said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The joint jobs would include leaders at regional commands, such as those in Europe, the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East, as well as administrative or functional commands, such as Cyber Command and Special Operations Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the law, there currently can be no more than 232 of those joint officers, and they\u2019re spread across all the services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s unclear how many of the cuts those jobs would absorb, versus the slots in each of the services. But officials have talked about merging some commands as the Pentagon reviews its overall leadership structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to the joint command jobs, Congress stipulates the maximum number of high-ranking general officers in the services: 219 in the Army, 171 in the Air Force, 21 in the Space Force, 64 in the Marine Corps and 150 flag officers in the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All combined, the services can\u2019t have more than 27 four-star officers, 153 three stars, 239 two stars and 210 one stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">National Guard review and cuts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The decrease in the National Guard stems from a review done by Guard leaders last year that identified more than 30 positions that could be cut among the 133 general officer jobs spread out across the government. There are about 30 general officers in the National Guard Bureau headquarters staff, and the rest are assigned to jobs in other federal agencies, including the FBI, CIA and the military commands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guard officials described their plan to Hegseth and Pentagon leaders, and it was approved. According to officials, it would result in six jobs cut from Guard Bureau staff and the rest from other military and government posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The adjutants general who run the Guard in each state are chosen by and work for the governors and so are not part of any cuts. They are largely one- and two-star officers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About 20% of top active duty general and admiral jobs would be eliminated, plus 10% of the more than 800 positions across other leadership levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109332,"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":86,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"4":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","your-air-force","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"5":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","your-army","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"6":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","your-marine-corps","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"7":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","your-navy","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"10":{"categories":["pentagon","newsletters","daily-news-roundup"],"primary_category":"pentagon"}}},"categories":[15,86,88],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1281],"class_list":["post-128554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-military"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KN5GKMLFKR3EKSCLJUZHSQTHLF","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/05\/13\/hegseths-plan-to-trim-top-ranks-could-hit-more-than-120-officers\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hegseth\u2019s plan to trim top ranks could hit more than 120 officers - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"About 20% of top active duty general and admiral jobs would be eliminated, plus 10% of the more than 800 positions across other leadership levels.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/05\/13\/hegseths-plan-to-trim-top-ranks-could-hit-more-than-120-officers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hegseth\u2019s plan to trim top ranks could hit more than 120 officers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"About 20% of top active duty general and admiral jobs would be eliminated, plus 10% of the more than 800 positions across other leadership levels.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/05\/13\/hegseths-plan-to-trim-top-ranks-could-hit-more-than-120-officers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Military Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-13T22:01:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T16:40:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lolita C. 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