Washington (AP) As part of his defense secretary’s campaign to rid the military of leaders who promote diversity and equity in the ranks, President Donald Trump abruptly dismissed Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, sidelining a respected officer and a historic fighter pilot.
The Pentagon will undoubtedly be rocked by Brown’s dismissal as chairman, making him just the second Black general to hold the position. The war in Ukraine and the escalating crisis in the Middle East had taken up his 16 months on the job.
For his more than 40 years of service to our nation, including his present position as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I would like to thank General Charles C.Q. Brown. He is a terrific leader and a gentleman, and I hope he and his family have a bright future. Trump shared content on social media.
After George Floyd was killed by the police, Brown publicly backed Black Lives Matter, which helped the government fight wokeism in the military. His dismissal is the most recent disruption at the Pentagon, which intends to reduce 5,400 civilian probationary employees beginning next week and find $50 billion in projects that might be trimmed in order to use the savings to support Trump’s agenda.
According to Trump, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Razin Caine is his choice to serve as the next chairman. According to his military biography, Caine is a career F-16 pilot who has been in the National Guard and on active service. Most recently, he served as the associate director for military relations at the CIA.
Combat assignments in Iraq, special operations postings, and jobs within some of the Pentagon’s most secret special access programs are all part of Caine’s military career.
He hasn’t, however, been assigned to any of the crucial roles that the legislation specifies are necessary for the position, such as being the service head, combatant commander, or vice chairman. If the president decides that such action is required in the interest of the country, that requirement may be waived.
More Pentagon firings
In a statement applauding Caine and Brown, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also announced the dismissal of two more top officers: Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Jim Slife and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti.
The Trump administration has sacked Franchetti, making her the second senior female military commander to do so. A day after taking office, Trump dismissed Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan.
Franchetti is a surface warfare officer who has led U.S. Naval Forces Korea and the U.S. 6th Fleet at all levels of command. She served as the commander of a navy destroyer and as the commander of an aircraft carrier strike group for two periods, and she was the second woman to ever be elevated to four-star admiral.
Before becoming the service’s vice chief of staff, Slife oversaw Air Force Special Operations Command and had deployed to Afghanistan and the Middle East.
“The force deserves to have generals who have credibility with our elected and appointed officials, and the President and Secretary of Defense deserve to have generals they trust,” he told The Associated Press on Friday. Even though I regret having to leave in these circumstances, I wouldn’t want things to turn out any differently.
Despite the fact that many of those jobs are intended to be carried over from one administration to the next, Trump has exercised his executive authority considerably more forcefully in his second term, firing the majority of Biden administration officials.
In 1949, retired Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro wrote a briefing for the Atlantic Council that stated that the chairman position was created as an adviser to the president and secretary of defense in order to filter all of the opinions of the service chiefs and more easily deliver that information to the White House without the president having to contact each individual military branch. There is no real command authority in the post.
Trump took action in spite of the fact that important members of Congress supported Brown and that he appeared to be amicable with him during a brief encounter at the Army-Navy football game in mid-December.
Following days of conjecture, a list of officers, including Brown, who were to be let go was circulated on Capitol Hill. Notably, however, neither the Republican chairs of the House or Senate armed services committees received any official notification of the firing.
In a statement released on Friday, Senate Armed Services Committee Republican chairman Sen. Roger Wicker omitted Caine’s name.
“I express my gratitude to Chairman Brown for his decades of distinguished service to our country,” Wicker added. I have no doubt that President Trump and Secretary Hegseth will choose a talented and competent person to fill the crucial role of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Democratic leaders in Congress denounced the dismissals as an overt attempt to politicize the armed forces.
In a statement released late Friday, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated that the survival of our democracy depends on a professional, apolitical military that is obedient to the civilian government and supports the Constitution rather than a political party. For the benefit of our soldiers and all Americans, elected officials, particularly Senate Republicans, must stand up for that timeless ideal against destructive efforts to turn the military into a political tool.
Brown risked discussing race
During Hegseth’s confirmation hearing last month, Brown’s future was questioned. Hegseth said, “Every senior officer will be reviewed based on meritocracy, standards, lethality, and commitment to lawful orders they will be given,” in response to the question of whether he would terminate Brown.
Hegseth had already targeted Brown. In a November podcast, he stated unequivocally that the head of the Joint Chiefs must be fired first. He also questioned whether Brown’s Blackness was a factor in his hiring in one of his novels.
Was it the color of his skin? Or his ability? Although we’ll never know, we’ll always have our doubts, which initially seems unjust to CQ. However, it doesn’t really matter because he has made the race card one of his main selling points, Hegseth wrote.
On January 27, Hegseth was asked directly if he intended to terminate Brown as he entered the Pentagon on his first day as defense chief.
Hegseth gave Brown a pat on the back and stated, “I’m standing with him right now.” Anticipate collaborating with him.
Brown, who visited troops at the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, gained notoriety for his remarks regarding George Floyd’s 2020 death. He claimed that even though he was aware of the danger, he felt compelled to speak up after talking about the murder with his wife and sons.
Brown shared a video message to the Air Force with the headline, “Here’s What I’m Thinking About,” as protests erupted around the country. Being one of the few Black men in his squad, he talked about the pressures that came with it. He remembered that despite his lifelong efforts to be an error-free pilot and officer, he continued to encounter prejudice. He claimed that although wearing the same flight suit and wings as all the other pilots, he had been asked about his credentials.
Brown had a difficult journey to the chairmanship; he was one of over 260 senior military officers whose nominations were held up for months by Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican. By a vote of 89–8, however, Brown was comfortably confirmed when the Senate finally took up the issue in September 2023.
Colin Powell, who served as the first Black chairman from 1989 to 1993, had been in office for thirty years. However, according to a 2021 Defense Department study, just 9% of officers were Black, despite the fact that 17.2% of the 1.3 million active-duty service members were African Americans.
For the first time, both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, were Black, making Brown’s tenure as chairman historic.
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By Lolita C. Baldor and Tara Copp The Associated Press
