Pentagon management is searching for a 20 p.c discount of four-star navy officers and an total 10 p.c discount of basic officers, in keeping with a Monday memo from Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth.
The memo, titled “Basic/Flag Officer Reductions,” referred to as for an total discount of 20 p.c of four-star flag and basic officers within the lively drive and 10 p.c within the flag and basic officer corps, reads the memo. Moreover, the memo requires a 20 p.c discount of basic officers within the Military and Air Nationwide Guard.
“Extra generals and admirals doesn’t equal extra success. Now this isn’t a slash and burn train meant to punish high-ranking officers,” Hegseth stated in a video posted on X. “This has been a deliberative course of, working with the Joint Chiefs of Workers with one objective, maximizing strategic readiness and operational effectiveness by making prudent reductions within the basic and flag officer ranks.”
Within the video message, Hegseth outlined two phases of the trouble that he referred to as “much less generals, extra G.I.s.” The primary is a take a look at the present construction of the navy providers and the second is an analysis of the Unified Command Plan.
“Section two will produce a minimal of a further 10 p.c discount of total basic and flag officers all through the DoD at the side of a realignment of the Unified Command Plan.”
The Unified Command Plan is a categorized doc that’s drafted each two years by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers. The blueprint “assigns missions; planning, coaching, and operational tasks; and geographic areas of tasks to [Combatant Commands],” in keeping with a abstract of the doc from the Congressional Analysis Service.
Hegseth stated the brand new strikes could be “essentially the most complete overview for the reason that Goldwater-Nichols protection reorganization act of 1986. That was a generational change in fight command constructions, planning, coaching, geographic areas of accountability, mission and operational tasks,” Hegseth stated.
Neither Hegseth’s video message nor the memo offered a timeline for the trouble.
The mechanism for the reductions is unclear. The variety of flag and basic officers within the navy is ready by Congress and outlined in Title 10 of the U.S. Code. There are 5 vacant four-star billets, together with the Chief of Naval Operations following the February removing of Adm. Lisa Franchetti.
The U.S. at the moment has 37 four-star officers within the lively drive, together with the Chief of the Nationwide Guard Bureau — the Military has 11, the Marines have three, the Navy has eight, the House Drive has three and the Air Drive has 12. In keeping with a 2024 Congressional Analysis Service report, the variety of four-star officers within the U.S. navy has been about 40 since 1965. As a share of the drive, the final and flag officer proportion has risen from .048 p.c in 1965 to simply over .063 p.c in 2023, in keeping with CRS.
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