Donald Trump fired US Air Force General Charles Q. Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Friday evening.
The president put out a statement on his social media platform saying he was replacing the 40-year veteran with Air Force Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine.
Brown had been in his post for 16 months, and his term was set to continue until the fall of 2027.
Trump wrote: “General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a ‘warfighter’ with significant interagency and special operations experience.”
During “my first term, Razin was instrumental in the complete annihilation of the ISIS caliphate. It was done in record-setting time, a matter of weeks. Many so-called military ‘geniuses’ said it would take years to defeat ISIS. General Caine, on the other hand, said it could be done quickly, and he delivered,” Trump added.
The president said his new nominee had been “overlooked” by his predecessor in the White House, Joe Biden.
“Despite being highly qualified and respected to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the previous administration, General Caine was passed over for promotion by Sleepy Joe Biden. But not anymore!” wrote Trump. Alongside Secretary Pete Hegseth, General Caine and our military will restore peace through strength, put America First, and rebuild our military. Finally, I have also directed Secretary Hegseth to solicit nominations for five additional high-level positions, which will be announced soon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Trump has regularly told stories about “Razin” Caine at his rallies over the years, saying he was one of several senior officers “out of central casting,” and claiming Caine advised him on how to beat ISIS.
Caine will have to be confirmed by the Senate.
The president praised the outgoing chief, writing: “I want to thank General Charles ‘CQ’ Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family.”
During his first term, Trump nominated Brown to become the Air Force’s first African American chief of staff. Biden appointed him to be the second Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Adam Schiff, a Democratic U.S. Senator for California, tweeted: “Donald Trump just fired a well-respected General who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And his Administration announced they’re replacing other officers, too. The purge of people of stature and independence goes on.”
In the month since returning to the White House, Trump has launched an assault on DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion. The policies are designed to make sure qualified applicants for jobs are not excluded just for being a woman, Black, disabled or any other minority.
Hegseth had said before his appointment that he wanted to fire any general involved in that “DEI s***.”
The now-defense secretary had previously taken aim at Brown. "First of all, you gotta fire, you know, you gotta fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs," he said in a podcast in November.
In one of his books, Hegseth questioned whether Brown got the job because he was Black."Was it because of his skin color? Or his skill? We'll never know, but always doubt — which on its face seems unfair to CQ. But since he has made the race card one of his biggest calling cards, it doesn't really much matter.”
On Friday, the defense secretary said he would be replacing a number of other senior officers.
In a statement he wrote: “I am also requesting nominations for the positions of Chief of Naval Operations and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff. The incumbents in these important roles, Admiral Lisa Franchetti and General James Slife, respectively, have had distinguished careers. We thank them for their service and dedication to our country.”
He noted: “We are also requesting nominations for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force. Under President Trump, we are putting in place new leadership that will focus our military on its core mission of deterring, fighting and winning wars.”
Caine's military service includes combat roles in Iraq, special operations postings and positions inside some of the Pentagon's most classified special access programs. However, it does not include key assignments that were identified in law as prerequisites for the job, with an exemption for the president to waive them if necessary in times of national interest.
The 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act states that to be qualified, a chairman must have served previously as either the vice chairman, as a combatant commander or a service chief — but that requirement could be waived if the "president determines such action is necessary in the national interest."
The role of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs was established in 1949 as an adviser to the president and secretary of defense, as a way to filter all of the views of the service chiefs and more readily provide that information to the White House without the president having to reach out to each individual military branch, according to an Atlantic Council briefing written by retired Major General Arnold Punaro. The role has no actual command authority.
With reporting from the Associated Press
