General (United States) - Statutory Limits

Statutory Limits

U.S. Code of law explicitly limits the total number of four-star officers that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty general officers is capped at 230 for the Army, 208 for the Air Force, 60 for the Marine Corps. For the Army, Navy, and Air Force, no more than about 25% of the service's active duty general or flag officers may have more than two stars, and statute sets the total number of four-star generals allowed in each service. This is set at 7 four-star Army generals, 9 four-star Air Force generals and 2 four-star Marine generals.

Several of these slots are reserved by statute. For the Army and the Air Force, the Chief of Staff and the Vice Chief of Staff for both services are all four-star generals; for the Marine Corps, the Commandant and the Assistant Commandant are both four-star generals. In addition, for the National Guard, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau is a four-star general under active duty in the Army or Air Force.

There are several exceptions to these limits allowing more than allotted within the statute. A four-star officer serving as Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff does not count against his service's general or flag officer cap. An officer serving as Chief of the National Guard Bureau does not count against his service's general officer cap. An officer serving in one of several joint positions does not count against his service's four-star limit, but he does count against his service's limit on officers with more than two stars; these positions include the commander of a unified combatant command, the commander of United States Forces Korea, and the deputy commander of United States European Command but only if the commander of that command is also the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. Officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not counted against either limit, including the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The President may also add four-star slots to one service if they are offset by removing an equivalent number from other services. Finally, all statutory limits may be waived at the President's discretion during time of war or national emergency.