Hegseth directs 20% cut to top military leadership positions

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday directed the active duty military to shed 20% of its four-star general officers as the Trump administration moves forward with deep cuts that it says will promote efficiency but that critics worry could result in a more politicized force.

Hegseth also told the National Guard to shed 20% of its top positions and directed the military to cut an additional 10% of its general and flag officers across the force, which could include any one-star or above or officer of equivalent Navy rank.

The cuts are on top of more than a half-dozen top general officers that President Donald Trump or Hegseth have fired since January, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. CQ Brown Jr. They also have fired the only two women serving as four-star officers, as well as a disproportionate number of other senior female officers.

In the earlier rounds of firing, Hegseth said the eliminations were ''a reflection of the president wanting the right people around him to execute the national security approach we want to take.''

As Pentagon chief, Hegseth has touted his efforts to root out any programming or leadership that endorses diversity in the ranks, tried to terminate transgender service members and begun sweeping changes to enforce a uniform fitness standard for combat positions.

In a memo announcing the cuts Monday, Hegseth said they would remove ''redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership.'' He said the aim was to free the military from ''unnecessary bureaucratic layers.''

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., a Marine who served in Iraq and is now on the House Armed Services Committee, said he sees Hegseth's actions as trying to politicize the military.

''He's creating a formal framework to fire all the generals who disagree with him — and the president,'' Moulton told AP at the Capitol.

He said certainly any organization can look for efficiencies but Hegseth has long been explicit about his agenda. ''He wrote a book about it. He wants to politicize the military,'' Moulton said. "So it's hard to see these cuts in any other context.''

Moulton warned of fallout for the troops. ''It is essential that our troops understand they are getting constitutional orders, not political orders,'' he said, ''because otherwise you don't have a democracy, otherwise you have a military that just works well for one political party or another.''

Adding to the turmoil in the Pentagon, Hegseth in recent weeks has dismissed or transferred multiple close advisers, tightly narrowing his inner circle. He also has been facing questions from both Democrats and Republicans about his handling of sensitive information and use of the Signal messaging app.

There are about 800 general officers in the military, but only 44 of those are four-star general or flag officers. The Army has the largest number of general officers, with 219, including eight four-star generals.

The number of general officer positions in the military is set by law. Members of Congress were not provided with the advance notification they normally would receive on the cuts but were given a ''very brief alert'' this afternoon, according to a congressional staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not made public.

The cuts were first reported by CNN.

The Pentagon is under pressure to slash spending and personnel as part of the broader federal government cuts pushed by Trump and ally Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

Hegseth last week ordered a sweeping transformation of the Army to ''build a leaner, more lethal force,'' including merging or closing headquarters, dumping outdated vehicles and aircraft, slashing as many as 1,000 headquarters staff in the Pentagon and shifting personnel to units in the field.

Also last week the Army confirmed that there will be a military parade on Trump's birthday in June, as part of the celebration around the service's 250th birthday. Officials say it will cost tens of millions of dollars.

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Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.