By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) – US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to announce a 20% cut in the number of positions for generals and admirals when he speaks with hundreds of junior service members at Quantico, Virginia, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday.
Hegseth will give a speech on Wednesday in front of hundreds of junior officers and enlisted officials, updating them on his priorities for the military.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Hegseth would say that he plans to cut the billets for general and flag officers by 20%. Those are one- to four-star generals and admirals. That is an increase from the minimum 10% cut Hegseth laid out last year.
Rather than firing people, one of the officials said, the rank of some future jobs would change while billets for others would be canceled.
Separately on Tuesday, the Pentagon released a memo signed by Hegseth which directed that the Department of Defense will no longer appoint civilians as tenured college faculty at the US Military Service Academies. The memo cast the directive as an effort to refocus military academies on “warfighting.”
Hegseth has moved quickly to reshape the department, firing senior officers across the military and dealing with niche personnel issues. Last year, he ordered a 20% reduction in the number of four-star officers.
The event on Wednesday will come a year after Hegseth slammed “fat generals” and diversity initiatives in front of US military generals and admirals during a speech at Quantico.
Last year, US President Donald Trump also delivered an address at Quantico and floated the idea of using deployments to US cities “as training grounds for our military.”
The remarks by Hegseth, a former Fox News personality, and Trump, a former reality television star, resembled a reality TV format, as top US military officials were summoned on short notice.
Addressing an auditorium full of top brass who flew in from around the world at the time, Hegseth defended his firings of flag officers, including the top US general, who was Black, and the Navy’s top admiral, who was a woman. He said the officers he relieved were part of a broken culture.
“If the words I’m speaking today are making your hearts sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,” Hegseth said.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by David Gregorio and Stephen Coates)
