Donald Trump replaces a top military commander amid widespread shakeup

Trump said he'd nominate retired Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Caine in place of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles Q. Brown

By Akayla Gardner and Roxana Tiron (BGOV)

 

President Donald Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles Q. Brown, breaking with decades of precedent as part of a broader purge of senior military leaders chosen by his predecessor, Joe Biden. 

Trump announced in a Friday night 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!”

 

 

Later Friday, 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 almost always served across presidential administrations as part of a tradition by both parties to preserve the military’s apolitical reputation. Brown is the first in the job since 2007 not to serve a full term.

 

Yet Trump has a history of clashing with Pentagon leaders, many 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 Biden and went on to criticize Trump openly. Soon after Trump returned to office, portraits of Esper and Milley were removed from the halls of the Pentagon.

 

But Trump has lavished praise on Caine for years, dating to his first term. On Wednesday, he again mentioned Caine during a speech at a conference 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.”

 

Hegseth, has been ardent in backing Trump’s second-term agenda. He’s deployed troops and military assets to assist with the campaign to deport undocumented migrants, moved to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. He welcomed efforts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to target wasteful spending.

 

Friday night’s move appeared to come as a surprise for Brown. Not long before Trump fired him, he put up several posts to X that featured pictures of him meeting with military commanders and rank and file at the southern US border. 

Today I am joining troops deployed to our southern border to discuss how @thejointstaff can better support their operations. I look forward to connecting with personnel onsite and observing them in action as they execute the mission of securing the border. pic.twitter.com/kavFuZ96Wh

— General CQ Brown, Jr. (@GenCQBrownJr) February 21, 2025

Brown’s name appeared on an informal list of military officers, seen by Bloomberg Government, that Hegseth was considering for removal. Hegseth had previously said Brown, who was the second Black person to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, should be fired.

 

“You’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, any general that was involved, admiral or whatever, anyone that was involved in any of the DEI, woke shi* — has got to go,” he told conservative podcast host Shawn Ryan before Trump’s November election victory.

 

Trump already removed Linda Fagan, the head of the Coast Guard, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, claiming she was too intent on promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. All the military officials removed on Friday were promoted into their positions by Biden.

 

Franchetti’s replacement in the post lands at a pivotal time for the US military which as been ramping up its efforts to stymie China’s influence in the Pacific region and safeguard Taiwan from a Chinese incursion.

 

Earlier Friday, the Pentagon announced it planned to cut 5,400 employees as part of wider layoffs that will lead to the firing of as much as 8 per cent of the Pentagon’s civilian workforce.

 

A cut of that size would total about 76,000 people, but department officials have told lawmakers they’re looking for staff cuts among 55,000 probationary workers, as Trump seeks to whittle down the federal workforce, according to three people familiar with the interactions.

 

Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement Friday evening thanking Brown “for his decades of honorable service to our nation” and expressing confidence in Trump and Hegseth’s choice to succeed him.

 

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the panel, expressed misgivings about the Friday night announcements.

 

“I am troubled by the nature of these dismissals,” Reed said. “This appears to be part of a broader, premeditated campaign by President Trump and Secretary Hegseth to purge talented officers for politically charged reasons, which would undermine the professionalism of our military and send a chilling message through the ranks.”

 

During Hegseth’s nomination hearing, Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, pressed him on whether he’d fire Brown. He was noncommittal.

 

“Senator, every single senior officer will be reviewed based on meritocracy, standards, lethality and commitment to lawful orders they will be given,” he said.

 

Franchetti was one of 20 military officers singled out in a letter last year to Hegseth from a conservative organization called the American Accountability Foundation who were purported to be part of “woke takeover of the military.”

 

Franchetti “delivered a video message at the 2023 Naval Surface Forces Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Summit, where she harped on the importance of ‘connectedness’ as a military value,” according to the group.