Hegseth’s plan to cut senior military jobs could hit more than 120 high-ranking officers

By LOLITA C BALDOR WASHINGTON AP Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth s plans to slash the number of senior military leaders across the services would cut more than high-ranking officer jobs in the working duty and National Guard including as a great number of as nine top general slots Related Articles Trump s new pardon attorney says he will scrutinize pardons that Biden issued at the end of his term Federal grand jury indicts Wisconsin judge in immigration matter allowing charges to continue US-China deal to slash tariffs also eases burden on cheap packages Mexican defense chief confirms cartel family members entered US in a deal with Trump administration Federal judge OKs use of Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans who are labeled gang members Based on the percentages outlined by Hegseth and his senior staff of the authorized top functioning duty general and admiral jobs would be eliminated along with of the more than one- two- and three-star positions according to numbers compiled by The Associated Press The cuts about nine positions among four-star generals and jobs across the other leadership levels would affect dozens of operational 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 senior National Guard positions The cuts are part of a broader government-wide campaign to slash spending and personnel across federal agencies that is being pushed by President Donald Trump s administration and ally Elon Musk s Department of Authorities Efficiency According to Hegseth and others the intent of the military job reductions isn t 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 operation members may not drop the salary costs will be lower Specific Democratic members of Congress have criticized Hegseth s plans as an attempt to politicize the military and oust leaders that don t 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 Shifting leadership responsibilities Military leaders expect that as various jobs are downgraded for example from a lieutenant general in charge to a major general or brigadier general more leadership responsibilities will fall on colonels or Navy captains and other subordinates And while multiple 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 More generals and admirals does not equal more success Hegseth revealed in a video describing his plan 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 Calling it the Less Generals More GIs plan he mentioned the department will make prudent reductions How the cuts will hit the military services The Army which is the largest organization is allowed to have a maximum of high-ranking general officers and is expected to absorb a higher number of the cuts while the Marine Corps will ostensibly see little impact at the very top There are only two Marine four-star generals and the tiny Space Force also only has two The Marine Corps with our general officers like our civilians and senior executives is by far the leanest provision disclosed Lt Col Josh Benson a Marine spokesman Due 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 He declared nearly one-third or of Marine generals hold two or three jobs each and as a great number of as positions are already empty Army leaders meanwhile have already developed plans to merge or close headquarters units and staff As plenty of as general officer slots could be cut as a development executives have declared 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 Under the law there right now can be no more than of those joint officers and they re spread across all the services It s unclear how a multitude of of the cuts those jobs would absorb versus the slots in each of the services But functionaries have talked about merging certain commands as the Pentagon reviews its overall leadership structure In addition to the joint command jobs Congress stipulates the maximum number of high-ranking general officers in the services in the Army in the Air Force in the Space Force in the Marine Corps and flag officers in the Navy All combined the services can t have more than four-star officers three stars two stars and one stars National Guard review and cuts The decrease in the National Guard stems from a review done by Guard leaders last year that identified more than positions that could be cut among the general officer jobs spread out across the regime There are about 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 Guard agents described their plan to Hegseth and Pentagon leaders and it was approved According to leaders it would effect in six jobs cut from Guard Bureau staff and the rest from other military and executive posts 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