US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that three men—none of whom have served in the military and two who make billions of dollars from it—will help lead a new Pentagon project on the “future of warfare," even as he moves to eliminate hundreds of senior armed service leadership position, including many generals and…
Page A10From§Eachthe midnight edition — 1 October 2026
STATE OF THE FORCE
Hegseth unveils a 20% officer purge and an AI war command as his own party debates firing him.
As it ran on the front
Pete Hegseth stood at Quantico on Wednesday and told the State of the Force that the Pentagon would cut one in five generals and admirals. Le Monde called the rollout a cultural revolution; Hegseth called it ending "woke," cutting bureaucracy, building the force of the future. The future, as he introduced it, runs through a new four-star command called AUTOWARCOM, built to fold autonomous drones and artificial intelligence into the chain of command, and a 120-day venture called Project Meridian, co-led, he said, by "three of our nation's best minds": Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich. Three co-leads, zero uniforms between them, and two of the three run companies that sell hardware to the department they have just been asked to reimagine.
The 20 percent cut Hegseth announced Wednesday did not start Wednesday. In August, the Pentagon blocked promotions for four Army officers picked for one-star rank; some of the four had ties to Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff Hegseth had already pushed out. The file stayed open; the stars did not come. What the test measures is not published anywhere a reporter can check.…
…(cont) The résumé thinned out from the top, too. On September 1, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned after repeatedly clashing with Hegseth's office. Sen. Mike Rounds, a senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he was "disappointed." The next day, Sen. Thom Tillis went further and called on the President to fire Hegseth outright, citing what he called "inept management." Two weeks after that, Rep. Thomas Massie — who lost his own primary this year to a challenger the President endorsed — filed eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, citing the Iran strikes and the boat bombings.
None of it has cost Hegseth the job. He has held it, the Times reported the same day, by projecting a tough-guy image; his relationship with Republican lawmakers, the Times reported, has never been worse. Wednesday's speech was the image doing its one remaining job: answering, loudly, a question his own party keeps asking quietly.
“They're cutting one in five generals and admirals and handing the actual war planning to three guys in suits with zero time in a uniform, two of whom bill the Pentagon by the hour. That's not a shakeup, that's a hostile takeover with better lighting. The guy running the purge can't get his own party to agree he should keep the keys.”
“A 20 percent reduction in general officers is a lean, modern fighting force, full stop. Blocking four officers from promotion because of who they used to work for is thorough vetting, not payback — well, some of it is payback, but it's efficient payback. Did I say that? That doesn't sound like me.”
The receipts
The Pentagon has failed its audit eight years running - the only major federal agency never to pass one Military Times, 19 December 2025
US Defense Secretary Hegseth touts 20% cut in high-ranking military officers as he reshapes armed forcesIn a testosterone-charged speech on the 'State of the Force' on Wednesday, Pete Hegseth confirmed the terms of the cultural revolution under way in the military and announced a series of measures aimed at preparing the country for future wars.
The Pentagon has failed its audit eight years running — the only major federal agency never to pass one Military Times, 19 December 2025
Hegseth says 20% of senior military officers will be cut, unveils new AI commandHegseth unveils six new initiatives including the creation of a new four-star "AUTOWARCOM" tol integrate autonomous drone technologies and AI.
The Pentagon has failed its audit eight years running - the only major federal agency never to pass one Military Times, 19 December 2025
Hegseth Talks Tough as Republican Doubts About His Leadership GrowPete Hegseth has held onto his job by projecting a tough guy image, but his relationship with Republican lawmakers has never been worse.
The Pentagon has failed its audit eight years running - the only major federal agency never to pass one Military Times, 19 December 2025
Hegseth says he's cutting generals and admirals by 20%, ousting "woke"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a speech on Wednesday that the Pentagon is eliminating roughly 1 in 5 generals and admirals during the second Trump administration through firing or position cuts.
· Tillis urges Trump to fire Hegseth over 'inept management' of military from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· GOP senator ‘disappointed’ over departure of Army secretary who clashed with Hegseth from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Hegseth blocks promotions of 4 Army officers with ties to sacked generals from the morgue, 29 Aug 2026
· Massie Files Impeachment Articles Against Hegseth for Illegal Iran War, Boat Murders from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Hegseth announces new Pentagon battlefield test for promotions to general from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.