Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, that the U.S. military will cut 20% of its generals and admirals by Jan. 1, 2027. He made the announcement at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia during what he called his “State of the Force” address, delivered to junior officers and enlisted leaders.
The order is new, but it builds on an earlier one. According to the Associated Press report carried by ABC News, Hegseth directed all military services to double a 10% reduction he had previously ordered for roughly 800 flag and general officer positions, bringing the total decrease to 20%.
A second round of cuts, not a replay of 2025
Headlines about a 20% cut to top military ranks first circulated in May 2025, when Hegseth issued a memo that, as reported by CBS News at the time, called for at least a 20% reduction in four-star officers, at least a 20% cut to general officers in the National Guard and a 10% reduction across all flag and general officers. That earlier order did not include a fixed deadline.
The new directive differs in two ways. First, it applies the 20% figure to the entire pool of one-star and higher officers, not only to the four-star tier. The AP reported that the new cuts “could include any one-star general or above, or an officer of equivalent Navy rank.” Second, it sets a firm completion date of Jan. 1, 2027, leaving the services roughly three months to finish.
It is not yet clear how much of the 2025 order was carried out. The AP noted that while Hegseth told the active duty force last year to shed 20% of its four-star officers and the National Guard to shed 20% of its top positions, “it is unclear if all those cuts have been made.”
Hegseth framed the expanded reduction in brief terms during the speech. “I call it accountability and long overdue,” he said.
How the generals and admirals cut works under the law
Congress, not the Pentagon, sets the number of general officer positions in the military. According to the AP, however, the department can leave positions unfilled by not submitting replacement nominations to Congress, which would allow the headcount to fall without a change in statute.
Senior promotions to these ranks require Senate confirmation, so lawmakers are likely to see the effects of the policy as nominations slow or stop for some posts. The AP did not report which specific commands or billets would be eliminated, and the Pentagon had not published a list as of Oct. 1.
Reaction on Capitol Hill
Members of Congress responded to the announcement with different emphasis. Some lawmakers described the latest cuts as a “purge” of the military’s top ranks that would take years to rebuild, the AP reported.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who has criticized Hegseth before, said:
“He’s got some kind of like deep-seated grievance about leadership in the military. He’s purging a generation of great leaders.”
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he wanted to hear the reasoning first. “If it’s simply a matter of eliminating a very heavy top, there may be some validity to it, but I want to see it first,” Rounds said.
The reduction comes after a series of high-level departures. The AP reported that President Donald Trump or Hegseth have fired or pushed to retire more than two dozen military leaders since taking office, including the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George, a move that drew objections from members of both parties. NarwhalTV previously covered reports that the Army chief of staff was asked to step down.
New drone command announced at Quantico
The personnel cut was one of several announcements in the State of the Force speech. Hegseth also said the Pentagon will create a new four-star command to oversee the rollout of autonomous and robotic capabilities, describing the effort as “the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history.”
The drone command announcement came about a month after officials said an Army unit in Europe that specialized in drone warfare had been directed to return to being a traditional infantry battalion. A bipartisan group of lawmakers later asked the Army to explain that order, according to the AP.
The wartime setting for the address
This was the second year in a row that Hegseth has delivered a State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico.
This year’s speech came with the U.S. military seven months into a war with Iran, according to the AP, and in a standoff over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Hegseth repeated claims that U.S. forces had destroyed Iran’s navy, air force and defense systems, while the AP reported that Iran has continued intermittent drone and missile attacks on U.S. or allied bases in the region. The cost of that conflict has been a separate point of debate in Washington; NarwhalTV has reported on a budget office estimate of U.S. war spending.
What to watch before the January deadline
The Jan. 1, 2027 target gives the services a short window to identify which senior positions to leave vacant or consolidate. Key open questions include how many of the 2025 reductions were completed, which headquarters and commands will lose senior billets, and how the Senate Armed Services Committee responds as nominations come before it. Rounds’ request to see the department’s reasoning suggests that committee members will seek more detail on the generals and admirals plan in the coming weeks.
The Pentagon had not released a service-by-service breakdown of the cuts as of Oct. 1, 2026.
