The Pentagon is working on a comprehensive restructuring of US military command – including a “downgrade” of major headquarters and a “shift in the balance of power” among prominent generals, the Washington Post reported on 16 December.

Sources familiar with the matter told the US outlet that the “major consolidation” is being sought by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

The ambitious plan is described as part of Hegseth’s vow to “break the status quo” and cut the number of four-star army generals.

“It would reduce in prominence the headquarters of US Central Command, US European Command, and US Africa Command by placing them under the control of a new organization known as US International Command,” the sources said to the Washington Post.

“The plan also calls for realigning US Southern Command and US Northern Command, which oversee military operations throughout the Western Hemisphere, under a new headquarters to be known as US Americas Command, or Americom,” the report adds.

“Pentagon officials also discussed creating a US Arctic Command that would report to Americom, but that idea appears to have been abandoned.”

This would reduce the number of major army headquarters from 11 to eight, while reducing the number of four-star generals and admirals who report to Hegseth.

According to the sources, the plan aligns with President Donald Trump’s national security strategy, published on 5 December.

The document calls for the enforcement of a “Trump Corollary” to the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine, which states that European powers must not interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere (North and South America).

“To ensure that America remains the world’s strongest, richest, most powerful, and most successful country for decades to come, our country needs a coherent, focused strategy for how we interact with the world … The US must be preeminent in the Western Hemisphere as a condition of our security and prosperity,” the strategy establishes.

Over recent months, the US has been beefing up its military presence in the Caribbean, coinciding with deadly strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and threats to launch a war in Venezuela.

The document also calls for a return to “strategic stability” with Russia, and places the US as more of a mediator in conflicts between Moscow and Europe.

Speaking to the BBC, Trump’s former EU ambassador, Gordon Sondland, said that if EU states seek to protect themselves from Russia, the responsibility lies with them.

“He [Putin] will try again unless Europe finally steps up and creates a major roadblock for him,” he said, adding that this would require European defense spending and commitment of personnel “to make it clear that Europe is willing to get into that kind of a war with Putin, backed by the United States, but not led by the United States. That’s where Trump is going here.”