Hegseth outlines military overhaul and targets 20% cut in top officers

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told military leaders Wednesday that he had cut the number of generals and admirals by 10% and intended to double that reduction, casting the changes as part of a broader cultural overhaul of the U.S. armed forces.

Speaking to hundreds of junior officers and enlisted leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Hegseth said the Trump administration had shifted the military’s priorities toward “training, readiness, accountability, discipline and lethality.”

“We are no longer the woke department or the weak department,” he said. “Simple translation of that: no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors.” He added that “the ideological clowns are out” and “the patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top.”

Hegseth said the force was now “color-blind” and merit-based, and claimed recruitment and retention had risen, including among women and minorities. According to NPR, his dismissal of senior officers and intervention in promotion decisions have drawn bipartisan criticism. NPR reported that several prominent officers removed without explanation were Black or female and had strong service records.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, accused Hegseth of taking “reckless, partisan actions that have damaged our military.” Reed said Hegseth had ended the careers of dozens of accomplished senior officers without explaining why.

Hegseth also rejected reports about troop morale and criticized coverage of the war with Iran. He called claims of low morale “patently false” and said about 80% of personnel aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln had been retained. The Guardian reported that eight Navy personnel assigned to the carrier had attempted suicide since the start of its nearly nine-month deployment. The carrier was at sea for 286 days, with a deployment originally set to end in May extended during the war, according to The Guardian.

“A free press is, of course, important,” Hegseth said. But he called what he described as partisan coverage that smeared troops and their mission “fundamentally anti-American,” adding: “It’s a national betrayal. It’s treason, actually.” NPR reported that the Pentagon had not held a news briefing since May, despite the war entering its seventh month.

Hegseth announced initiatives involving autonomous weapons, technological innovation, military base construction and domestic production of essential supplies. The Guardian reported that Elon Musk, defense technology entrepreneur Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich would work with the Pentagon on a project studying the future of warfare.

Hegseth also pledged to elevate military chaplains and identified religious faith as essential to the republic. NPR reported that he announced an end to civilian tenured positions at U.S. military academies. He criticized elite universities and named five colleges for an expanded relationship with the Pentagon to develop officer candidates: Liberty University, Hillsdale College, Louisiana State University, Mississippi University and Tuskegee University.