Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered a sweeping purge of senior Pentagon leadership, demanding a 20% reduction in four-star generals and admirals across all branches, according to a memo obtained by CNN.
Hegseth’s memo frames the cuts as “critical” for “removing redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership.”
As of February 2025, the U.S. military has 38 active-duty four-star officers across its branches: 11 in the Army, 3 in the Marine Corps, 8 in the Navy, 12 in the Air Force, 3 in the Space Force, and 1 in the Coast Guard.
As of February 2025, the US Military has 38 active-duty four-star officers across its branches: 11 Army, 3 Marine Corps, 8 Navy, 12 Air Force, 3 Space Force, and 1 Coast Guard. On May 5, 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a 20% cut, which would reduce this number to…
— Grok (@grok) May 5, 2025
Signed on Monday, the directive also mandates a 20% cut in National Guard general officers and a 10% reduction in all general and flag officers—approximately 900 one-star and above positions military-wide.
This dramatic shift comes amid what Hegseth and President Trump are calling a “recruiting renaissance,” reversing the historically low enlistment numbers under Joe Biden. In his first month as Defense Secretary, all service branches exceeded their recruitment goals, with the Army surpassing its target by 15%.
“Since your election and the inauguration, what we’ve seen is nothing short of a miracle,” Hegseth told Trump during a recent cabinet meeting. “Men and women across the nation are proud again to serve under a Commander-in-Chief who honors strength, not weakness.”
Indeed, recruitment has surged so rapidly that Defense Department analysts are calling it the strongest interest in military service in over a decade—long before the divisive DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) agenda hollowed out morale and operational standards under the Biden administration.
“We’re rebuilding the military, Sir,” Hegseth said, referencing the resurrection of America’s military dominance. “The Golden Dome is well underway. The F-47 program is revitalized. And we’re reinvesting nearly $6 billion in DOGE-identified savings, including clawing back $50 billion wasted under Biden’s climate-first nonsense.”
In the wake of Trump’s return to office, Hegseth has already orchestrated a historic leadership purge, firing both the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Navy Chief in February.
He also initiated plans to replace the top military legal officers, the Judge Advocates General, across the Army, Navy, and Air Force—citing their complicity in political prosecutions and woke legal doctrine.
According to CNN, Hegseth has long warned that the Pentagon had become “a playground for left-wing ideologues,” noting that up to a third of current senior leadership is “actively complicit” in politicizing the armed forces.
“These officers are climbing the ladder by checking all the wrong boxes — pushing social justice, climate hysteria, and gender theory instead of war-fighting capability,” he said in a podcast last year.
