The Pentagon is tight-lipped when it comes to sharing information with members of Congress about drastic new cuts that will "downgrade several of the U.S. military’s major headquarters" while changing the command structure among top generals, the Washington Post reports.
Congress, which is constitutionally tasked with oversight, knows little to nothing about plans from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to shake up the military structure, according to the report.
Citing two people familiar with work on the Republican-led Senate and House Armed Services committees, the report said that top officers in command have prepared for the proposal but have heard nothing.
Each agency head is required to brief Congress about work being done, and Republicans are "perturbed" that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ignored that responsibility.
"If adopted, the plan would usher in some of the most significant changes at the military’s highest ranks in decades, in part following through on Hegseth’s promise to break the status quo and slash the number of four-star generals in the military," said the Post. "It would reduce in prominence the headquarters of U.S. Central Command, U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command by placing them under the control of a new organization known as U.S. International Command, according to five people familiar with the matter."
Hegseth won't submit the proposal, according to the Post. Instead, he will have Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine reveal the details.
The cuts will also include a realignment of the U.S. Southern Command and the U.S. Northern Command. Each branch oversees all military operations in the western hemisphere, the report explained.
Hegseth wants to reduce it to a "Western Hemisphere" office he will call "U.S. Americas Command, or Americom," an earlier report from NBC News said.
The Pentagon is also considering creating a "U.S. Arctic Command that would report to Americom." Sources told the Post that plan may have already been abandoned.
According to the proposal, combat commands would be cut from 11 to eight, and four-star generals and admirals would suddenly report directly to Hegseth, the Post reports.
It's part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to decrease U.S. military abroad.
Lawmakers told the Pentagon that in order to move forward with the plan, they must "submit a detailed blueprint that describes the realignment’s potential costs and impacts on America’s alliances."
The Pentagon won't get its funding until at least 60 days after the materials have been provided.
Read the full report here.
