Last week, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth announced a plan to cut 5% of the U.S. Army’s total strength, or roughly 24,000 soldiers. This is a remarkably large reduction given the state of global affairs, which includes increasing aggression from all of America’s adversaries and two full-scale wars involving allies. 

This number, when accounting for the addition of 7,500 cybersecurity and air defense billets, corresponds to the Army’s recruitment shortfall — roughly 15,000 soldiers a year for the past three years. Perhaps Wormuth, the Army’s top political leader, is responding to politics and is purposefully lowering the bar in hopes of finally reaching a recruiting goal during President Joe Biden’s administration.