The Air Force tried to cut 15 three-star billets last year but was only successful in cutting eight, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said Thursday morning. “The others were just a bridge too far,” not because of Air Force resistance, but because of resistance outside the service, Welsh said. Defense Secretary Ash Carter recently proposed updating the Goldwater-Nichols Act, and lawmakers and defense officials have been discussing trimming headquarters operations and jobs for the highest-ranking officers. Welsh, speaking at an AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast in Arlington, Va., said it is fair to ask why the general and flag officer ranks have not been downsized at the same rate as the overall force. If the services can’t justify those positions, he said, “maybe they shouldn’t be there.” Still, he said, “it’s very difficult to reduce,” in part because senior positions “are coming out of somebody’s district, somebody’s state.” There is also a “ripple” effect on other jobs that goes along with reducing senior officer positions, he noted.
LIVE: Caine Leads Global Toast to the Doolittle Raiders
April 17, 2026
Continuing a 80-year-long Air Force tradition started by Gen. Jimmy Doolittle and his fellow Raiders in 1946, the Air & Space Forces Association, Air Force and Space Force units, and AFA members around the world are raising a glass to the anniversary of the legendary Doolittle Raid.