Happy Friday! You may have noticed there was no Pentagon Rundown last week. That’s because I was at the Modern Day Marine exhibition in Washington, D.C., writing about various topics, including the Marine Corps’ efforts to repair and refurbish its barracks.
As always, it’s been busy, and some of the biggest news has been Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent announcements about reshaping the military. On Monday, Hegseth announced that he had ordered a cut of at least 20% of active-duty four-star positions and National Guard general officers.
The second phase of Hegseth’s plan calls for an additional 10% reduction of general and flag officers throughout the Defense Department as part of changes to the Unified Command Plan, which assigns missions and responsibilities to the combatant commands, Hegseth said in a video posted on X on Monday.
“We’re going to shift resources from bloated headquarters elements to our warfighters,” Hegseth said in the video.
Reducing the number of general and flag officers was one of the recommendations in Project 2025, a policy blueprint released by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C., prior to last year’s election. The project’s chapter about the Defense Department says that although the military currently has more generals and admirals than during World War II, “the actual battlefield experience of this officer corps is at an all-time low.” It also claimed that previous presidential administrations had promoted officers “for reasons other than their warfighting prowess.”
The Pentagon has implemented several other proposals in Project 2025, including reinstating troops who were separated for refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19 with back pay, trying to separate transgender service members, and abolishing diversity equity and inclusion offices and staff.
In a separate move, Hegseth has directed the Army to restructure itself, and that includes consolidating commands. The force structure changes that Hegseth ordered in an April 30 memo include merging U.S. Army North and U.S. Army South into a single headquarters, combining Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command into a single entity, and divesting “outdated formations, including select armor and aviation units.” The memo did not specify which units.
In my nearly 20 years as a defense reporter, I’ve seen the military expand rapidly during the Iraq war, only to undergo draconian personnel and funding cuts as part of sequestration. Once again, the military is in a state of flux, this time as it prepares to deter and — if necessary — fight China. As things currently stand, change is the only constant, so it’s a safe bet that more efforts to transform the military are coming.
And on that note, here’s your weekly rundown.
- Truman loses another Super Hornet. An F/A-18F Super Hornet crashed into the Red Sea on Tuesday after a failed attempt to land on the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. Both aviators aboard were rescued after safely ejecting. This is the third Super Hornet from the carrier that has been lost since December.
- Yemen strikes on hold. President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Tuesday that the U.S. military would cease its air and missile strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen under a ceasefire agreement brokered by Oman. Between March 15 and April 29, U.S. forces struck more than 1,000 Houthi targets, according to the Pentagon. As of Thursday, the ceasefire appeared to be holding, but it was unclear for how long.
- Military daycares not telling parents about suspected abuse. A recent Defense Department Inspector General report found a lack of “uniform requirements” across the military services for notifying parents and legal guardians about suspected abuse and neglect at military childcare centers. Task & Purpose reporter Patty Nieberg takes a look at the problem and what the Defense Department plans to do to fix it.
- Gaza pier injuries. A total of 62 service members were injured during efforts last year to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza using the Joint Logistics Over The Shore, or JLOTS system, which was only operational for roughly 20 days, a recent Defense Department Inspector General report found. “Based on the information provided, we were not able to determine which of these 62 injuries occurred during the performance of duties or resulted off-duty or from pre-existing medical conditions,” according to the report, which found many problems that ultimately doomed the JLOTS effort. Army Sgt. Quandarius Davon Stanley died on Oct. 31, months after being injured while supporting the mission.
- Chechen strongman wants to step down. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has said publicly that he’d like to be relieved of his post, but that decision ultimately rests with Russian President Vladimir Putin. After meeting with Putin on Wednesday, it looks like Kadyrov is staying put, at least for now. Maybe he can make use of his remaining time in office to work on his push-up form.
Thank you for reading and have a great weekend!
Jeff Schogol