Trump fires CQ Brown, nominates retired Air Force 3-star as replacement

WASHINGTON — After four decades in uniform, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown was unceremoniously ushered from his post nearly two-and-a-half years early tonight via a social media message by President Donald Trump.

His unprecedented replacement: Dan Caine, a retired three-star Air Force officer. 

“I want to thank General Charles ‘CQ’ Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family.”

It was not immediately clear if Brown was fired effective immediately, and if so, if Adm. Christopher Grady, the vice chairman, is now serving as the country’s top officer. 

In a separate statement, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also announced that he was seeking nominations to replace Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Slife. It was not immediately clear if those two had been removed from their positions.

RELATED: Hegseth fires Navy top officer, Air Force No. 2

Trump and Hegseth have been on a quest to rid the military of “woke” generals supporting diversity and those who carried out orders related to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. And while Brown was not serving as President Joe Biden’s chief military adviser during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Trump supporters have repeatedly invoked his name when talking about “woke generals.”

“First of all, you got to fire the chairman [of the] Joint Chiefs, and … obviously you’re going to bring in a new Secretary of Defense. But, any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever — … in any of the DEI woke shit has got to go,” Hegseth said in an episode of the Shawn Ryan Show podcast just days before Trump named him to lead the Pentagon. “Either you’re in for warfighting, and that’s it, that’s the only litmus test we care about.”

However, Brown was not the first up on the chopping block. On inauguration night, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan became the first service leader to be terminated. (The Coast Guard is under the Department of Homeland Security.)

Brown instead continued on in his role, even greeting Hegseth outside the Pentagon on his first official day as the new secretary. When a reporter asked Hegseth if he would fire the four-star general, he patted Brown on the shoulder and said, “I’m standing with him right now. I look forward to working with him.”

While Brown has been long rumored to be in the crosshairs of the new administration, that wasn’t the case during Trump’s first tour at the White House.

After graduating from the ROTC program at Texas Tech University in 1984, Brown was commissioned into the Air Force. He spent his tenure as a fighter pilot, commander of the 31st Fighter Wing, Central Command’s deputy commander and head of US Air Forces in the Pacific (PACAF).

Trump later tapped the general to serve as the Air Force’s 22nd Chief of Staff, the first Black man to serve in the post. By October 2020, when Trump administered Brown’s oath of office, the country was in a period of civil unrest after police officers killed George Floyd. The four-star general had spoken out about the incident, saying his own experience “didn’t always sing of liberty and equality.”

Then after three years serving as the top-ranking uniformed Air Force official, Brown was sworn in as the 21st chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the Biden administration — normally a four-year posting expected to run through October 2027.

Lt. Gen. John D. Caine Nominated

As to Brown’s replacement: Caine retired in 2024, according to his Air Force bio. However, he appears to have made quite an impression on Trump over the years, with the president having talked him up several times to crowds. 

“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. But not anymore!” Trump stated in his Truth Social post.  

According to a February 2024 report from the Washington Examiner, Trump talked about how Caine told him that he could defeat ISIS in four weeks if given the power to do so, and then claimed that the officer donned a MAGA hat, despite such outward displays of politics not being allowed by the military — a story that, if true, will set off alarm bells for those who are worried about the politicization of the military. 

It’s unclear exactly what mechanism would allow Caine to take the role. One potential route would be for Trump to recall the retired officer to active duty, and then nominate him for the Chairman’s job, which requires a full Senate confirmation.