Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Monday that the U.S. military will soon be seeing a dramatic reduction in the number of general officers across all branches. 

He called the reduction a ‘historic’ move to fulfill President Donald Trump’s commitment to ‘achieving peace through strength.’ 

‘We’re going to shift resources from bloated headquarters elements to our warfighters,’ said Hegseth. 

According to Hegseth, there are currently 44 four-star and flag officers across the military, making for a ratio of one general to 1,400 troops, compared to the ratio during World War II of one general to 6,000 troops.

Hegseth, who has pledged to transform the military into a ‘leaner, more lethal force,’ issued a memo to senior Pentagon personnel on Monday in which he ordered the reductions to be carried out in two phases. 

In the first phase, Hegseth ordered a ‘minimum’ 20% reduction of four-star generals and flag officers in the active-duty component as well as a 20% reduction in the National Guard. 

In phase two, the secretary is ordering an additional 10% reduction in general and flag officers across the military. 

The secretary called the reductions part of his ‘less generals, more GIs policy.’ 

In a video announcing the change, he said the reductions will be done ‘carefully, but it’s going to be done expeditiously.’ 

He said ‘this is not a slash-and-burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers’ but rather a ‘deliberative process, working with the joint chiefs with one goal: maximizing strategic readiness and operational effectiveness by making prudent reductions.’ 

‘We got to be lean and mean. And in this case, it means general officer reductions,’ said Hegseth. 

Congress sets the number of general officers allowed in the military. The total number of active-duty general or flag officers is capped at 219 for the Army, 150 for the Navy, 171 for the Air Force, 64 for the Marine Corps and 21 for the Space Force.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Monday that the U.S. military will soon be seeing a dramatic reduction in the number of general officers across all branches. 

He called the reduction a ‘historic’ move to fulfill President Donald Trump’s commitment to ‘achieving peace through strength.’ 

‘We’re going to shift resources from bloated headquarters elements to our warfighters,’ said Hegseth. 

According to Hegseth, there are currently 44 4-star and flag officers across the military, making for a ratio of one general to 1,400 troops, compared to the ratio during World War II of one general to 6,000 troops. 

Hegseth, who has pledged to transform the military into a ‘leaner, more lethal force,’ issued a memo to senior Pentagon personnel on Monday in which he ordered the reductions to be carried out in two phases. 

In the first phase, Hegseth ordered a ‘minimum’ 20 percent reduction of four-star generals and flag officers in the active-duty component as well as a 20 percent reduction in the National Guard. 

In phase two, the secretary is ordering an additional 10 percent reduction in general and flag officers across the military. 

The secretary called the reductions part of his ‘less generals, more GIs policy.’ 

In a video announcing the change, he said the reductions will be done ‘carefully, but its going to be done expeditiously.’ 

He noted that ‘this is not a slash and burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers’ but rather a ‘deliberative process, working with the joint chiefs with one goal: maximizing strategic readiness and operational effectiveness by making prudent reductions.’ 

‘We got to be lean and mean. And in this case, it means general officer reductions,’ said Hegseth. 

Congress sets the number of general officers allowed in the military. The total number of active-duty general or flag officers is capped at 219 for the Army, 150 for the Navy, 171 for the Air Force, 64 for the Marine Corps, and 21 for the Space Force.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries slammed President Donald Trump while discussing the recent chaos at Newark Liberty International Airport, saying he had ‘decimated the FAA.’

During a press conference on Monday, Jeffries took a reporter’s question about the recent delays at Newark Airport.

‘Well, it’s certainly something that I think we’re all invested in looking into, as it relates to the ability of the American people to be able to travel in an efficient way,’ the Democrat began, before turning his attention to Trump.

‘We do know that the Trump administration has decimated the FAA in a variety of different ways, and they’ve been doing this from the very beginning,’ he added. ‘They are breaking the federal government.’

Jeffries added that the Trump administration is ‘breaking the FAA.’

‘And whether the specific situation at Newark Airport has anything to do with that remains to be seen,’ he continued.

‘But it’s my expectation that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will look into this situation, and we should get some answers to figure out how to get it turned around.’

The conference came days after the massive delays and cancellations at the New Jersey airport began.

On Thursday, more than 500 flights in and out of Newark were delayed and at least 200 others were canceled, and chaos followed throughout the weekend. As of Monday afternoon, 172 flights have been delayed and 76 have been canceled on Monday.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed the situation on poor technology in an X post on Friday.

‘The technology that we are using is old. That’s what is causing the outages and delays we are seeing at Newark,’ Duffy wrote.

The House Rules Committee has advanced a bill to permanently rename the Gulf of America.

Formerly the Gulf of Mexico, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that upended that as part of his America First agenda.

But without congressional action, the name could be reverted by a future administration – which spurred Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to introduce a bill enshrining the name in federal law.

The measure advanced through the House Rules Committee in a party-line vote on Monday evening, teeing it up for a chamber-wide vote sometime this week. The House Rules Committee acts as the final gatekeeper for most bills before they hit the House floor.

Democrats had attempted to derail the measure with several protest amendments, including one that would have limited oil and gas drilling permissions in the area. 

None of those passed along with the final bill, however, as expected. 

Democrats ripped the legislation as a meaningless attempt to score political points with Trump.

Republicans, however, called it a ‘historic’ move for America First and an  ‘important symbol of that effort and a step in the right direction.’

‘Throughout our country’s history, presidents have changed the names of America’s lands and waters. The change we are discussing today signals to the world that America is standing tall, and that we are proud of our country,’ Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., said in support of the bill.

‘It is nearly impossible to overstate the Gulf of America’s critical role in achieving not only American energy independence, but dominance. President Trump has made it a priority of his administration to reassert America’s role as a global leader in energy production, and the Gulf of America is a critical part of that agenda.’

She pointed back to Republicans’ 2024 electoral sweep, ‘The American people support these policies, and we must deliver on the promises that we have made.’

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., a member of the House Rules Committee, said during her opening statement during the panel’s debate on the measure, ‘Ever since the beginning of Trump’s term, House Republicans have been tripping over themselves to find new and more embarrassing ways to suck up to the president and indulge his peculiar obsessions.’

‘This bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico is a stupid, unserious waste of time and taxpayer dollars. It’s an embarrassment to the nation that it was ever introduced, let alone that it’s being brought to the floor for a vote,’ Scanlon said.

Fox News Digital is told a House-wide vote on the bill is expected Thursday morning.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital of the Democrats lodging protest amendments to the bill, ‘Democrats are so overtaken with Trump Derangement Syndrome and obsessed with obstructing the President’s agenda that they will always put America Last. As President Trump said, the Gulf of America has long been an integral asset to our nation. All future generations should be able to recognize this beautiful body of water as a sign of American greatness.’

The White House is going after Democratic lawmakers looking to upend House GOP plans to make President Donald Trump’s Gulf of America name change permanent.

The House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before most legislation gets a House-wide vote, is considering a bill to codify Trump’s decision to cease calling the body of water on the U.S. Southeast ‘the Gulf of Mexico.’

‘Democrats are so overtaken with Trump Derangement Syndrome and obsessed with obstructing the President’s agenda that they will always put America last,’ White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital.

‘As President Trump said, the Gulf of America has long been an integral asset to our nation. All future generations should be able to recognize this beautiful body of water as a sign of American greatness.’

Four Democrats have submitted amendments in a bid to upend the legislation — though none are likely to pass, given the committee’s Republican majority.

The first measure, led by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., would revert a similar Trump decision to rename Mt. McKinley in Alaska. The highest peak in North America, former President Barack Obama stripped his assassinated predecessor’s name from the mountain in favor of Mt. Denali, the name originally given by the indigenous peoples who lived in the area.

Trump signed an executive order restoring McKinley as its name on his first day in office this year.

A second amendment by Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., is aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to issue oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf region.

Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Ore., meanwhile, submitted an amendment that, if passed, would block the Trump administration from ‘retribution’ against news organizations that refer to the area as the Gulf of Mexico.

The White House had blocked access for an Associated Press journalist earlier this year after the organization continued to refer to the gulf’s former name even after Trump’s executive order. A federal judge ordered the White House to reverse that last month.

The fourth amendment submitted by Democrats, led by Rep. Luz Rivas, D-Calif., would prevent the formal name change from taking effect until the Department of Interior carried out an assessment on whether it would benefit the economy.

Rivas told Fox News Digital that the Gulf of America rename is a ‘vanity project’ that ‘accomplishes nothing’ in response to the White House statement.

‘Millions of Americans are struggling because of President Trump’s economic policies, and Republicans in Congress have yet to put forth a legislative proposal that lowers the costs of groceries, protects healthcare, or lowers housing costs,’ Rivas said.

The bill itself is expected to get a vote sometime this week.

It’s one of several pieces of legislation House Republicans are advancing aimed at making Trump’s executive actions permanent.

Trump’s executive order renaming the gulf was one of the first actions he took in his second term.

The remaining three Democratic offices who Fox News Digital reached for comment did not get back by press time.

A pro-Trump legal group founded by White House aide Stephen Miller is suing Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts — a long-shot move as Trump allies fight court rulings blocking key actions from the Oval Office.

The lawsuit was filed by the America First Legal Foundation against Roberts in his capacity as the official head of the U.S. Judicial Conference and Robert J. Conrad, who serves as the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. 

The complaint accuses both the U.S. Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts of performing certain regulatory actions that go beyond the scope of resolving cases or controversies, or administratively supporting those actions, which they argue are the ‘core functions’ of the judiciary.

It also argues that records held by the Roberts-led U.S. Judicial Conference should therefore be subject to the Freedom of Information Act requests, or FOIA requests, as a result.

AFL cited in its lawsuit recent actions taken by both the Judicial Conference and Administrative Office in 2023 to ‘accommodate’ requests from Congress to investigate allegations of ethical improprieties by Justices Thomas and Alito, and subsequently to create or adopt an ‘ethics code’ for justices on the high court.

‘Under our constitutional tradition, accommodations with Congress are the province of the executive branch,’ AFL said, adding: ‘The Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office are therefore executive agencies,’ and must therefore be overseen by the president, not the courts.

The U.S. Judicial Conference is the national policymaking body for the courts. It is overseen by the Supreme Court’s chief justice, and tasked with making twice-yearly recommendations to Congress as needed.

The Administrative Office for the U.S. Courts, meanwhile, operates under the guidance and supervision of the Judicial Conference. Its role is to provide administrative support to the federal courts on certain administrative issues and for day-to-day logistics, including setting budgets and organizing data, among other things.

Plaintiffs for AFL, led by attorney Will Scolinos, argued in their lawsuit that the Judicial Conference’s duties are ‘executive functions,’ and functions they allege must be supervised by executive officers ‘who are appointed and accountable to other executive officers.’ 

Further, AFL argued, ‘Courts definitively do not create agencies to exercise functions beyond resolving cases or controversies or administratively supporting those functions.’  

In their view, this is also sufficient to put the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts — as it is overseen by the Judicial Conference — under the executive branch as well. 

Scolinos argued that AFL’s proposed framework ‘preserves the separation of powers but also keeps the courts out of politics.’

U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, a Trump appointee, has been assigned to preside over the case.