Trump fires chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The move sidelines a history-making fighter pilot and respected officer as part of a campaign to rid the military of leaders who support diversity.
President Donald Trump abruptly fired Air Force General CQ Brown Jr as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday.
The move sidelines a history-making fighter pilot and respected officer as part of a campaign led by his defence secretary to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks.
The removal of Mr Brown, only the second black general to serve as chairman, is sure to send shock waves through the Pentagon. His 16 months in the job have been consumed with the war in Ukraine and the expanded conflict in the Middle East.
“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,” Mr Trump posted on social media.
Mr Brown’s public support of Black Lives Matter after the police killing of George Floyd had made him fodder for the administration’s wars against “wokeism” in the military.
Mr Trump said he is nominating retired Air Force Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next chairman.
Mr Caine is a career F-16 pilot who served on active duty and in the National Guard and was most recently the associate director for military affairs at the CIA, according to his military biography.
Mr 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.
He has not had key assignments identified in law as prerequisites for the job, including serving as either the vice chairman, a combatant commander or a service chief. That requirement could be waived if the “president determines such action is necessary in the national interest”.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a statement praising both Lt Col Caine and Gen Brown, announced the firings of two additional senior officers, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti and vice chief of staff of the Air Force General Jim Slife.
Mr Franchetti becomes the second top female military officer to be fired by the Trump administration. HE fired Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan a day after he was sworn in.
A surface warfare officer, Admiral Franchetti has commanded at all levels, heading the US 6th Fleet and US Naval Forces Korea.
She was the second woman ever to be promoted to four-star admiral, and she did multiple deployments, including as commander of a naval destroyer and two stints as aircraft carrier strike group commander.
She told The Associated Press on Friday: “The President and Secretary of Defense deserve to have generals they trust and the force deserves to have generals who have credibility with our elected and appointed officials. While I’m disappointed to leave under these circumstances, I wouldn’t want the outcome to be any different.”
Mr Trump has asserted his executive authority in a much stronger way in his second term, removing most officials from the Biden administration even though many of those positions are meant to carry over from one administration to the next.
