Following the recent directive by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, for the Pentagon to move towards reducing the annual defense budget by roughly 8% before 2026, Army planners are considering a reduction in up to 90,000 active-duty troops, reducing the current force from around 450,000 soldiers to between 360,000 and 420,000. With this reduction part of a broader shift in military strategy away from Europe and the Middle East, towards the Indo-Pacific.