WASHINGTON, United States – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to cut the number of positions designated for U.S. military generals and admirals by 20%, expanding a senior-leadership reduction he began last year.
The planned reduction covers general and flag-officer billets ranging from one-star through four-star ranks. Hegseth is expected to outline the changes during a State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Wednesday.
The reduction is expected to be completed by Jan. 1, 2027. Pentagon officials have confirmed the planned changes, while reports based on internal Pentagon memorandums say the services have already been directed to implement reductions across the Army, Navy, Air Force and joint military structure.
Billets, not an across-the-board dismissal
The 20% target does not mean that 20% of currently serving generals and admirals will automatically be dismissed.
Instead, the Pentagon is reducing the number of billets — authorized positions designated for officers at general or flag rank. Some positions are expected to be eliminated, while others can be downgraded so they can be filled by colonels or Navy captains.
A Sept. 16 memorandum approving reductions in the military’s joint pool directed officials to establish O-6 requirements for positions identified for downgrade, according to reporting based on the document. That would allow some positions currently designated for general or flag officers to be occupied by colonels or captains.
Expansion of last year’s reductions
The new target is twice the minimum overall reduction Hegseth ordered in 2025.
In a May 5, 2025 memorandum, Hegseth directed the Department of Defense to reduce active-component four-star positions by at least 20%, National Guard general officers by at least 20%, and general and flag officers by an additional minimum 10% as part of a realignment of the Unified Command Plan.
Hegseth said the earlier reductions were intended to remove redundant force structure and streamline senior military leadership. The stated objective was to reduce what the department characterized as unnecessary bureaucratic layers while maintaining military effectiveness.
The latest plan therefore represents an expansion of the broader reduction in general and flag-officer billets rather than a completely separate personnel policy.
The scale of the military’s senior ranks
As of July 31, the Defense Department had 851 active-duty general and flag officers, according to personnel data cited in current reporting. Federal law sets an overall cap of 857 active-duty general and flag officers.
A 20% reduction applied to roughly 850 positions would correspond to approximately 170 positions, although the precise number affected by the current implementation depends on which billets are eliminated or downgraded and how the reductions are distributed among the services.
The 20% figure should therefore not be described as a final count of officers who will leave the military.
Hegseth’s stated rationale
Hegseth has argued that reducing senior headquarters positions can move resources and authority toward operational forces and reduce layers of military bureaucracy.
His May 2025 memorandum described the goal as optimizing and streamlining leadership by reducing excess general and flag-officer positions.
The secretary has also characterized the reductions as part of an effort to improve readiness and operational effectiveness rather than as a program designed simply to remove senior officers.
Debate over senior military leadership
The size and role of the general and flag-officer corps have been debated independently of Hegseth’s current restructuring.
A Congressional Research Service analysis cited in current reporting notes competing arguments over the number of senior officers. One view is that excessive senior leadership can add bureaucratic layers and slow decision-making. Another is that senior officers are needed to manage multinational military relationships, technological changes and increasingly complex Defense Department operations.
Those competing assessments concern the broader question of military organization and do not establish the eventual operational effect of the current cuts.
Implementation remains ahead
The Pentagon’s services are expected to implement the new reductions by Jan. 1, 2027, but the precise allocation among the military branches and joint commands has not been fully detailed publicly.
The distinction between eliminating billets and removing individual officers will also be important as the plan progresses. Some senior positions will disappear, while others will be converted to lower-ranking positions.
Hegseth’s announcement therefore represents a further restructuring of the military’s senior command architecture, building on the reductions initiated in 2025 rather than simply announcing an immediate 20% reduction in the number of serving generals and admirals.
Reporting Credit: U.S. Department of Defense; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s May 5, 2025 memorandum on general and flag officer reductions; Pentagon officials as reported in current coverage.
