(Washington) The Pentagon is working on a profound reorganization of the general staff of the American army, which would notably reduce the number of four-star generals and the importance of commands in Europe and Africa, said Tuesday the Washington Post.
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“If passed, the plan would launch some of the most significant transformations at the top of the military in decades, in part following (Defense Secretary Pete) Hegseth’s promise to break with the status quo and reduce the number of four-star generals in the armed forces,” the paper said, citing “five people familiar with the matter.”
The American chief of staff, General Dan Caine, must present the details of the project to Pete Hegseth “in the coming days”, adds the capital’s newspaper.
At the beginning of December, the Trump administration published a document presenting its “national security strategy” in which it notably intends to put an end to “the era when the United States supported the entire world order, like Atlas”.
The document anticipates the “civilizational erasure” of Europe and overviews the strategy on Africa and the Middle East in a few paragraphs. It aims to reorient American security policy in view of geopolitical developments, but above all the newly defined interests of Washington.
The department did not immediately respond to AFP’s questions on the subject.
But according to the Washington PostPete Hegseth’s entourage refused in a statement to the newspaper to comment on “supposed internal discussions”, adding that any information suggesting divisions between officials on the issue was “completely false”.
According to the text, “everyone within the (department) is working to achieve the same goal.”
The American daily specifies that these measures would reduce the number of commands from 11 to 8, “while reducing the number of four-star generals and admirals who report directly to Hegseth”.
In September, in a very unusual move, Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump summoned the highest-ranking American officers to the Quantico military base in Virginia. The head of the Pentagon had notably demanded that the army turn its back on “decades of decline”.
In May, he also ordered significant reductions in the number of senior officers, with a drop of at least 20% in the number of four-star generals and admirals in office.
Several senior US military officials have also been pushed out since the start of Donald Trump’s second term in January.
