Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he is cutting 20 percent of the military's generals and admirals, and he is calling the move accountability.
Hegseth made the announcement Wednesday (Sept. 30) in a speech to service members at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, CBS News reported. Earlier that day he had held what he called "PT at the Pentagon." CBS says the military is now seven months into the war with Iran, with no end in sight.
This builds on a shakeup we already covered. CBS notes Hegseth has previously pushed out nearly 20 senior officers, along with the secretaries of the Army and Navy. It also says he blocked several women and minorities from promotions.
On the purge label, the CBS broadcast carries Hegseth's answer: "I call it accountability." CBS also quotes him calling the cut "long overdue." His stated argument, per CBS, is in part that the military must be free of "unnecessary bureaucratic layers."
Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who served under President Biden, is not buying it. He told CBS it will take a generation for the military to recover from Hegseth's moves.
We don't have an excess of generals sitting around with nothing to do
Kendall said that, then added that the military does not have "overly inflated positions." His verdict: "a political stunt, frankly."
Democrats are piling on too. Punchbowl News says the push has drawn Democratic derision. Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, told CBS it could take years to rebuild the military's top ranks. He called the plan "a blanket 20% cut" and said "all of us are going to be less safe."
The timing is hard to miss. CBS News Politics says Hegseth spoke on the day the U.S. military announced it had completed its troop pullout from Iraq. CNN reports the same speech also announced a new Pentagon autonomous warfare command.
Politico's headline sums up the speech: Hegseth vowed to shrink the Pentagon, then announced plans to grow it.