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TRUMP FIRES JOINT CHIEFS CHAIR, NAVAL CHIEF AND JAG CHIEFS IN DEFENSE SHAKEUP.
President Trump abruptly fired Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sidelining a history-making fighter pilot and respected officer as part of a campaign to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks, CBS News reported (2/21).
The ouster of Brown, only the second Black general to serve as chairman, sent shock waves through the Pentagon. His 16 months on the job were consumed with the war in Ukraine and the expanded conflict in the Middle East.
Trump said he is nominating retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next chairman.
Caine was sworn in as associate director for Military Affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency in November 2021, according to his biography on the Air Force’s website, and his most recent post was as director of special programs for the Defense Department’s Special Access Program Central Office at the Pentagon. As a command pilot, he has logged more than 2,800 hours in an F-16, including more than 150 combat hours.
Caine is a three-star general. Traditionally, four-star generals are nominated to chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Caine “embodies the warfighter ethos and is exactly the leader we need to meet the moment. I look forward to working with him.”
Hegseth also announced that Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti and Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force James Slife were also being fired. Admiral James W. Kilby, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, was appointed Acting Chief of Naval Operations.
Franchetti made history in 2023 when she became the first woman to lead the Navy.
Judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force were also being replaced, Hegseth said. A source familiar with the matter told CBS News Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short, who was the senior military assistant to the defense secretary, was also let go from her position over the weekend.
