US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth may announce cuts of up to 20 percent in the Pentagon’s top military leadership posts, potentially doubling the expected reductions, US media reported on Tuesday.
US officials told The Washington Post, Fox News and ABC News that Hegseth could announce cuts to the number of generals and admirals in a “State of the Force” speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Wednesday.
Since taking office at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, the former Fox News personality has led with a heavy hand, overhauling the top ranks of the military through dismissals and demotions in which women and racial minority officers have often been targeted.
Even after the US war with Iran began on February 28, Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff General Randy George in April. Just days before the war began, two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chairman General Charles Brown Jr and the Navy’s Admiral Lisa Franchetti, were dismissed.
Senior officials have also left through retirement and resignation, including Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who resigned earlier this month after repeated clashes with Hegseth.
The expected announcement comes as the US war against Iran enters its seventh month. A recent Pentagon report found that US military bases suffered more damage than previously announced and that the United States lost more weapons than it had admitted.
ABC News said it was “not clear” how the new cuts would be made, and whether such large cuts to military leadership during a war would disrupt day-to-day operations. The Pentagon did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report