Hegseth expected to fire more top-ranking US military

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to announce the firings of 20% of admirals and generals across the armed forces, according to US media.

The announcement is anticipated Wednesday at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, adding to an earlier round of personnel cuts in 2025.

There are over 800 active-duty generals and admirals across the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Force, according to the latest defence department tally.

The last time Hegseth assembled military leaders at Quantico, in September 2025, he criticised the department as being too "woke" and slammed its leaders for being out of shape, saying "fat generals and admirals" is "a bad look".

Hegseth's anticipated firings are the latest in a broader overhaul of the US military under his leadership, seeking to insert what he calls a "war fighter ethos" into the defence department, including a rebrand, calling it the Department of War.

According to the BBC's news partner, CBS News, at least 20 generals, admirals and civilian military leaders have been terminated or quit their jobs since Hegseth became defence secretary.

This includes the firing of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and top uniformed officials in the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Federal law sets a limit to the number of general and flag officers. There is no requirement that unfilled positions be replaced.

Amid the shakeup, Hegseth also has been accused by various civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the National Women's Law Center, of blocking the military promotions of black people and women.

George Washington University political science professor Alexander Downes highlighted these concerns to the BBC, describing Hegseth's track record as "a little suspect".

Downes added that while previous defence secretaries have made changes to military leadership, Hegseth's cuts were "undoubtedly more" than these.

He hoped Hegseth would justify the firings and that they would be "based on organisational needs, not ideological agendas".

The Pentagon has previously said it would "never consider the colour of a service member's skin or their gender as a factor in promotions" and that "meritocracy reigns supreme" in the defence department.

Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, told reporters on Tuesday that Hegseth was "in the process of purging the upper echelon of the military from its best leaders".

"We need strong leaders. These folks have decades of experience, some of the best leadership our military has ever had. He's getting rid of them," Kelly said.

A report from the Congressional Research Service in May noted that there were some disadvantages of having too many senior leaders at the top.

These include the higher cost of employing top-ranked servicemembers compared to lower-ranking officers, and the potential to "slow down decision-making processes".

Downes said it not was not necessarily good or bad to reduce the number of officers but "it all depends on why you're doing it and what function it's serving".

According to Downes, the military today is roughly 50% smaller than it was in the 1960s, while the general officer count is only down roughly 30%.

He explained that the military's structure has changed to include more combatant commands like Centcom, which directs military operations across the Middle East.

Hegseth's trimming of the US military's top brass also comes as the US-Israel war with Iran stretches into its seventh month, depleting ammunitions stockpiles.