By Lolita C. Baldor
Washington (AP) – Plans by the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, to reduce the number of senior military leaders through services would reduce more than 120 high -ranking jobs in active service and the National Guard, including up to nine general slots.
Based on the percentages described by HegSeth and its senior executives, 20% of the 44 general and admiral jobs in authorized active service are eliminated, as well as 10% of the more than 800 positions to one, two and three stars, according to figures compiled by the Associated Press.
Cups – approximately nine positions among the four -star generals and 80 jobs through other levels of leadership – would affect dozens of active service agents dispersed in the five services as well as those in joint command jobs, such as those who supervise Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The changes would eliminate 33 senior national guard positions.
Cups are part of a wider government campaign aimed at reducing expenses and staff in federal agencies that are driven by the administration of President Donald Trump and the Government Ministry of Ally Elon Musk.
According to Hegseth and others, the intention of reductions in military employment is not to reduce the overall size of the force but to clarify the upper ranks and to compensate for these cuts with additional troops at lower levels. Although the overall number of soldiers may not drop, wage costs will be lower.
Some Democrats of Congress criticized HegSeth’s plans to try to politicize the military and discuss leaders who do not agree with the Trump administration. The changes also arise while the world is disrupted by conflicts, including wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and as the United States has troops deployed in Syria and elsewhere.
Change of responsibility of leadership
Military officials expect various jobs to be downgraded – for example a lieutenant general in charge of a general or a brigade general – more leadership responsibilities will fall to colonels or the captains of the navy and other subordinates.
And while many of the job cuts will come by attrition, while senior officers retire or move on, services say that they will have the flexibility to move people in higher priority positions and get rid of less critical positions.
“More generals and admirals are not equal to more success,” said Hegseth in a video describing his plan. “It is not a slash and burning exercise intended to punish high -ranking officers. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was a deliberative process. “
The appellant “less general, more SIG”, he said that the ministry would make “prudent reductions”.
How the cuts will reach military services
The army, which is the greatest service, is authorized to have a maximum of 219 high -ranking general officers and should absorb a higher number of cuts, while the marine body will probably see little impact at the top. There are only two four -star marine generals, and the tiny spatial force also has only two.
“The Marine Corps, with our general officers, like our civilians and senior executives, is by far the leaner service,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Josh Benson, naval spokesperson. “Due to the already meager nature of the general officers of the Marine Corps, any reduction in the officers general will have a disproportionate impact on the body compared to other services.”
He said that almost a third – or 21 – marine generals occupy two or three jobs each, and up to 10 positions are already empty.
Army leaders, on the other hand, have already developed plans to merge or close the headquarters and the staff. Up to 40 general officers could be cut accordingly, officials said.
Joint jobs include regional command managers, such as those of Europe, Indo-Pacific and the Middle East, as well as administrative or functional orders, such as Cyber control and the command of special operations.
Under the law, there cannot currently be more than 232 of these joint officers, and they are distributed over all services.
We do not know how many cups these jobs would absorb, compared to the slots of each of the services. But the officials talked about the merger of certain orders while the Pentagon reviews its global leadership structure.
In addition to the joint command jobs, the congress stipulates the maximum number of high -ranking general officers in the services: 219 in the army, 171 in the Air Force, 21 in the Space Force, 64 in the Marine Corps and 150 Flag Officers in the Navy.
All combined, the services cannot have more than 27 four -star officers, 153 three stars, 239 two stars and 210 a stars.
National Guard Review and Cups
The decrease in the National Guard stems from an examination carried out by the managers of the guard last year which identified more than 30 positions which could be reduced among the 133 general officer jobs across the government. There are approximately 30 general officers in the staff of the head office of the National Guard office, and the others are assigned to jobs in other federal agencies, including the FBI, the CIA and military orders.
Guard officials have described their plan to Hegseth and Pentagon leaders, and it was approved. According to officials, this is involved in six jobs cut off from the staff of the Guard Office and the rest of the other military and government positions.
The general adjusters who direct the custody in each state are chosen by and work for governors and are therefore not part of the cuts. They are largely from the officers in one and two stars.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
