Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth unveils his "Less Generals, More GIs" reform.
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00:00We're back with more DOD reforms. This one is General and Flag Officer Reductions. That's the official title. My title is Less Generals, More GIs. It's a historic one, and it's in keeping with President Trump's commitment to achieving peace through strength. We're going to shift resources from bloated headquarters elements to our warfighters. Let's take a bit of a trip down memory lane.
00:26In history, when we were fighting across the globe during World War II, we had a force that was 12 million strong. For that 12 million man element, we had 17 four- and five-star generals. Today, we have 2.1 million service members with 44 four-star and flag officers. So it used to be a ratio of one general to 6,000 troops. Today, it's one general to 1,400.
00:52More generals and admirals does not equal more success. Now, this is not a slash-and-burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers. Nothing could be further from the truth. This has been a deliberative process, working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff with one goal, maximizing strategic readiness and operational effectiveness by making prudent reductions in the general and flag officer ranks.
01:18So there's two phases here. Phase one, we're looking at our current service structure. And in phase two, it's a strategic review of the unified command plan. Now, this is going to be, we think, the most comprehensive review since the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986.
01:36That was a generational change in combat command structures, planning, training, geographic areas of responsibility, mission, and operational responsibilities. So as I said, it's going to happen in two phases.
01:49The result of phase one is a minimum of 20% reduction of four-star and flag officers for active duty elements, and a minimum of 20% reduction of general and flag officers in the National Guard Bureau.
02:02Phase two will produce a minimum of 20% reduction of overall general and flag officers throughout the DOD, in conjunction with a realignment of the unified command plan.
02:15It's going to be done carefully, but it's going to be done expeditiously.
02:20We confront a complex and evolving threat environment. We cannot afford to wait.
02:26We've got to be lean and mean, and in this case, it means general officer reductions.
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