pete hegseth planning to downgrade military command headquarters around the world

Defence affairs - washington post

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is planning a massive overhaul of the U.S. military’s command structure, which would downgrade headquarters in Europe, Asia and Africa, according to a new report.

Defense officials are expected to provide details of the plan to Hegseth in the coming days, following a request he made this spring to improve how soldiers are controlled and commanded, people briefed on the matter told The Washington Post.

If implemented, the proposal would mark one of the most significant reorganizations of the Pentagon’s senior leadership in decades, fulfilling Hegseth’s pledge to challenge the status quo.

The move would align with other policies pursued by President Donald Trump’s administration that aim to redirect resources toward the Western Hemisphere, where the U.S. military is currently conducting a lethal campaign against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and ramping up pressure against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

A senior defense official told the Post that the plan is intended to speed up the decision-making process, noting that sweeping changes are needed to prevent “decay.”

A Defense Department official told (defence affairs magazine) that, as a matter of policy, the Pentagon will not comment “on leaked documents that we cannot authenticate and rumored internal discussions.” The official added that “any insinuation there is a divide within the Department is completely false – everyone in the Department is working to achieve the same goal under this administration.”

The plan would reduce the importance of U.S. Central Command, U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command by placing them under a new umbrella organization which will be known as U.S. International Command, according the the report.

The proposal further seeks to place U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Southern Command — which handle operations in the Western Hemisphere — under the authority of a new headquarters which will be called U.S. Americas Command, or Americon for short, sources said.