Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum on Monday directing the Pentagon to reduce the number of four-star generals and admirals in the U.S. military by 20% in an effort to “shift resources” to America’s “warfighters.”
Announcing the memorandum, titled “Less Generals, More GIs,” in a video on X, formerly Twitter, Hegseth said, “We’re going to shift resources from bloated headquarters elements to our warfighters.”
Hegseth explained that the U.S. military currently has 44 four-star and flag officers for a force of 2.1 million service members, compared to only 17 four and five-star generals during World War II for a force of 12 million service members. The secretary of defense warned that having a higher number of top generals and admirals “does not equal more success.”
Addressing the upcoming reduction of four-star generals and flag officers, Hegseth said, “Now, this 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, working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff with one goal: maximizing strategic readiness and operational effectiveness by making prudent reductions in the general and flag officer ranks.”
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In Monday’s video, Hegseth explained that there will be “two phases” in the “Less Generals More GIs Policy.” For the first phase, Hegseth has ordered the Pentagon to implement a 20% reduction of four-star and flag officers and a 20% reduction of general and flag officers in the National Guard.
Hegseth also announced that the second phase of the Pentagon’s new policy will include an additional 10% reduction in general and flag officers and will be conducted “in conjunction with a realignment of the Unified Command plan.”
“It’s going to be done carefully, but it’s going to be done expeditiously,” Hegseth said. “We confront a complex and evolving threat environment. We cannot afford to wait. We got to be lean and mean. And in this case, it means general officer reductions.”
