The Pentagon is contemplating a significant reduction of 90,000 active-duty military personnel in response to shrinking defense budgets.

According to Military, a publication dedicated to U.S. military personnel and veterans, citing three Department of Defense officials, internal discussions are underway regarding a potential reduction of the armed forces to between 360,000 and 420,000 troops, down from the current force of about 450,000. This shift is driven by mounting financial pressures resulting from plans to scale back defense spending.

This move began to be discussed after the newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, instructed the Pentagon to develop a plan to reduce the budget by 8% over the next five years.

Projects related to combating climate change have also come under Hegseth’s scrutiny. However, canceling only these programs will not significantly bring the defense department closer to the targeted 8% savings, likely making personnel cuts inevitable.

The publication’s sources did not specify where or how the potential cuts would take place. Nonetheless, some officials have expressed concern that a sharp reduction in the armed forces could worsen the already challenging recruiting situation and push away skilled professionals.

The publication notes that one of the main proponents of reducing the army may be Austin Dahmer, a senior official in the political department of the Department of Defense. Back in 2023, he published a major article in which he argued for the need to significantly reduce the size of the army in favor of reallocating funds spent on ground forces to the Air Force and the Navy.

Dahmer argued that in a war with China, many components of the army, such as the tracked artillery vehicle Paladin, would be underutilized in a potential military campaign that involves rapid troop deployments and combat operations on islands.

U.S. Defense Budget Cuts

According to the plan released by Hegseth, the 8% funding cut will not affect operations along the U.S. southern border, nuclear weapons modernization, missile defense, or the procurement of kamikaze drones and munitions.

Read about the role of the Paypal mafia in the new defense policy and Trump’s missile defense project in the article “America’s Golden Dome – the Return of Star Wars?”

The document also mentions the continued funding of several key regional commands, including the Indo-Pacific, Northern, and Space Commands.

Meanwhile, the European, Central, and African Commands are not included in the list.

The Pentagon’s budget for 2025 is approximately $850 billion. If the proposed budget cuts are fully approved, they will amount to tens of billions of dollars in each of the next five years.