Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has ordered his defense minister and military council's chief of staff to retire.

A presidential spokesman also announced Sunday that Mr. Morsi has canceled a constitutional declaration the military approved shortly before his election that granted its top commanders wide powers.

President Morsi replaced the outgoing defense minister Hussein Tantawi — a holdover from ousted President Hosni Mubarak's rule — with Abdel Fattah al-Sissi. He also has appointed a senior judge, Mahmoud Mekki, as vice president.

This is the latest major reorganization following last week's announcement that Mr. Morsi fired his intelligence chief and the governor of North Sinai. That reorganization — which also extended to replacing the commander of the military police — came days after militants launched their bloodiest attack ever on the army in the Sinai Peninsula, killing 16 Egyptian border guards.