Hegseth to cut Pentagon posts reserved for Generals, Admirals by 20%

Defence secretary Pete Hegseth plans to cut the number of senior positions reserved for generals and admirals by 20%, a Pentagon official said.

Hegseth’s directives will allow some jobs to be filled with lower-ranking officers, such as Army colonels or Navy captains, instead of generals and admirals.

That includes reducing the required rank of 23 positions on the Joint Staff – which supports the top officer in the US military – according to a person familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity to discuss a matter that had not been made public.

The plans, first reported by Fox News, will be announced at Hegseth’s “State of the Force” address on Wednesday at Marine Corps Base Quantico.

The speech on Wednesday will come one year after Hegseth held a similar event at Quantico, where he and president Donald Trump gave rally-style remarks to an unusual gathering of hundreds of generals and admirals pulled in from all over the world.

The secretary outlined his vision for a force focused on physical standards, changes to disciplinary processes and the need to rid the military of “woke” personnel and policies.

The September 2025 address followed a number of firings of senior uniformed officers and a May 2025 memorandum directing cuts to the number of generals and admirals across the force. He has also fired or blocked the promotions of a number of female and non-White generals and senior officers.

The audience for this year’s address will be composed of more junior service members who were nominated to attend based on body shape and grooming standards, the Wall Street Journal reported in mid-September.

Congress establishes in law the total number of troops in each of the military services, across both active and reserve components.

Spokespeople for the leaders on the House and Senate armed services committees did not immediately respond to questions about whether the Pentagon had advised the panels of its plans, or whether lawmakers might oppose the moves.