CNN —
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered senior Pentagon leadership to cut the number of four-star generals and admirals by at least 20% across the military, according to a memo signed by Hegseth dated Monday and obtained by CNN.
As of 2023, there were 37 four-star generals and admirals across the entire military.
The memo also directs the Pentagon to cut the number of general officers in the National Guard by 20%, and to cut the total number of general and flag officers across the military by 10%. There are currently about 900 general and flag officers — those with the rank of one star or higher — across the military.
At the end of WW2, we had about 12 million active duty military and about 450 generals and admirals – about 1 general/admiral per 26,667 service members.
Currently, we have about 900 generals and admirals leading a military of about 1.26 million service members – about 1 general/admiral per 1,400 service members. We only have 241 active ships in our navy and over 300 admirals.
Yes, it’s time to streamline our armed forces and make them less top heavy starting with the 4-stars.
-Yes, it’s time to streamline our armed forces and make them less top heavy starting with the 4-stars.
To be at all effective this right-sizing needs to go all the way down to O-6. Maybe O-5. Retire the career-clogging excess and offer no official reasoning beyond “for the good of the service.” If they’re not war fighters or involved directly in support of warfighters, Hegseth should have to justify their existence and their expense.