Pentagon Trims Top Brass

The Pentagon is thinning its ranks from the top down: It has cut 27 positions for generals and admirals since March, which the Washington Post calls the biggest such reduction since the end of the Cold War. Military leaders are taking advantage of the end of the war in Iraq and the winding down of the war in Afghanistan to push toward a goal of reducing the upper ranks by 10% over five years. It dovetails with a larger mission of creating a smaller, nimbler fighting force.

“If 10 years of combat have taught us anything, it’s that flat is faster," says a vice admiral involved with implementing the plan. (More Pentagon stories.)