In the latest, US President Donald Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles Q. Brown. On Friday night, Trump announced in a post on Truth Social that Brown, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, would be replaced.
He said he’d nominate retired Air Force Lieutenant General ‘Dan Caine’ in his stead. Brown’s four-year term was not set to expire until 2027. “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,” Trump said. “But not anymore!”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that he would seek to replace Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as chief of naval operations, and General James Slife, the Air Force vice chief of staff, as well as the top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs and other top officers have always served across presidential administrations as part of a tradition by both the parties to preserve the military’s apolitical reputation. Additionally, Brown is the first in the job since 2007 not to serve a full term.
Donald Trump has a history of clashing with Pentagon leaders, several of whom he chose. He broke with his first Defense secretary, James Mattis, who resigned over Trump’s decision to pull troops out of Syria, and fired Mattis’ replacement Mark Esper, who had gone against the president and resisted deploying troops against protests in the US.
He also tangled with his former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Mark Milley, who stayed on under Joe Biden and went on to criticize Trump openly. Soon following Trump returned to office, portraits of Esper and Milley were removed from the halls of the Pentagon.
On Wednesday, he again mentioned Caine at a conference during a speech hosted by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in Miami, referring to him by his nickname “Razin.’” “General Razin’ Caine was- he’s some general – he’s a real general, not a television general,” Trump said.
“We have the greatest military in the world, but we don’t have the greatest, top, top leadership that’s why Afghanistan was such a horrible situation and so embarrassing and so many other things.”
Brown’s name come on an informal list of military officers, seen by Bloomberg Government, that Hegseth was considering for removal. Previously, Hegseth had said Brown, who was the second Black person to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, should be fired.
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