The purge continues. On Friday, President Trump abruptly fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Trump wrote on Truth Social that the decorated fighter pilot “is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family.” Trump nominated Air Force Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine to replace him.
Brown’s dismissal is widely seen as part of a broader effort to rid the Pentagon of DEI initiatives and the leaders seen as championing them. Gen. Brown is only the second Black person to serve as chairman of JCS and publicly supported the Black Lives Matter movement.
Dead-heading: SecDef Pete Hegseth also dismissed Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Jim Slife on Friday. Franchetti is the second female officer fired by the Trump administration after former Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan.
Hegseth said the DoD is now requesting nominations for Franchetti and Slife, as well as for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
An estimated 5,400 other Pentagon employees will be fired this week, and up to 61,000 will be dismissed in total as part of the Trump administration’s purges, according to Pentagon officials.
Central casting: Here’s what we know about Lt. Gen. Caine:
- He’s worked for most of his career in special operations.
- He met Trump in 2018 in Iraq when he was serving as the US Central Command’s Special Operations Component and deputy commander of Special Operations Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.
- He retired in December as a three-star general. That means he’s being recalled to service, and receiving his fourth star by being called into the position.
- In a post on Truth Social, Trump described him as an “accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a ‘warfighter.’” He’s previously described him as straight out of “central casting.”
The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is the nation’s highest-ranking military officer and acts as the primary military advisor to the President, but does not have operational command authority.