Outside the Beltway

Trump Purges Pentagon Leadership

Three members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been fired.

James Joyner · Saturday, February 22, 2025 · 11 comments

AP (“Trump fires chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and two other military officers“):

President Donald Trump abruptly fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, sidelining a history-making fighter pilot and respected officer as part of a campaign led by his defense secretary to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks.

The ouster of Brown, only the second Black general to serve as chairman, is sure to send shock waves through the Pentagon. His 16 months in the job had been consumed with the war in Ukraine and the expanded conflict in the Middle East.

“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. He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family,” Trump posted on social media.

Brown’s public support of Black Lives Matter after the police killing of George Floyd had made him fodder for the administration’s wars against “wokeism” in the military. His ouster is the latest upheaval at the Pentagon, which plans to cut 5,400 civilian probationary workers starting next week and identify $50 billion in programs that could be cut next year to redirect those savings to fund Trump’s priorities.

Trump said he’s nominating retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next chairman. Caine is a career F-16 pilot who served on active duty and in the National Guard, and was most recently the associate director for military affairs at the CIA, according to his military biography.

Caine’s military service includes combat roles in Iraq, special operations postings and positions inside some of the Pentagon’s most classified special access programs.

However, he has not had key assignments identified in law as prerequisites for the job, including serving as either the vice chairman, a combatant commander or a service chief. That requirement could be waived if the “president determines such action is necessary in the national interest.”

Brown is the first Chairman to be relieved before completing his appointed tour. Both President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth praised his character and service, so there is no hint that this is for cause.

While Franchetti is not the first service chief to be removed, it is highly unusual. In his announcement that he is seeking a nomination for a replacement, Hegseth said she and Slife “have had distinguished careers. We thank them for their service and dedication to our country.”

Brown was the first Black officer to become a service chief when he was appointed—by President Trump—as Air Force Chief of Staff. He was promoted by President Biden to the Chairman role, with then-Marine Commandant David Berger widely reported to be the other contender.

Franchetti was the first woman to lead one of the military services. Sam Paparo, who was instead tabbed to lead Indo-Pacific Command, was widely reported to be the alternative.

It’s noteworthy, in this context, that Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan, who was the first woman to head one of the armed services, was fired on Trump’s first full day in office.

It’s possible that we’ll learn more about specific policy disputes down the line. But Hegseth had signaled that Brown and Franchetti, in particular, needed to go well before he was nominated for the job:

Rumors about the impending dismissals have been percolating for weeks, but a more formal list of those who could be fired was recently shared with Republican lawmakers, suggesting that the dismissals could be imminent, one of the sources said. Democrats were not briefed directly, that person said. The fact that the list was sent to lawmakers was first reported by NBC.

The list includes Gen. CQ Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the sources said. Before he was nominated as defense secretary, Hegseth said Brown should be fired because of his “woke” focus on diversity, equity and inclusion programs inside the military.

“First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” Hegseth said in a November appearance on the “Shawn Ryan Show.” “But any general that was involved – general, admiral, whatever – that was involved in any of the DEI woke s— has got to go. Either you’re in for warfighting, and that’s it. That’s the only litmus test we care about,” Hegseth said.

[…]

The list also includes the current Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve in the role. Franchetti is also the first woman ever to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If she were fired, it would leave the military without a female four-star general for the first time in years. In his most recent book, Hegseth suggested that Franchetti was only hired because she is a woman.

“If naval operations suffer, at least we can hold our heads high. Because at least we have another first! The first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — hooray,” Hegseth wrote in his 2024 book, “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.”

Critics frequently point to a speech that Brown made in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder as evidence of his “wokeness.” At the time, he was Commander of US Air Forces, Pacific and under nomination for Air Force Chief.

As the commander of Pacific Air Forces, a senior leader in our Air Force, and an African American, many of you may be wondering what I’m thinking about the current events surrounding the tragic death of George Floyd.

Here’s what I’m thinking about.

I’m thinking about how full I am with emotion, not just for George Floyd but the many African Americans that have suffered the same fate as George Floyd.

I’m thinking about protests in my country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, the equality expressed in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that I’ve sworn my adult life to support and defend.

I’m thinking about a history of racial issues and my own experiences that didn’t always sing of liberty and equality.

I’m thinking about living in two worlds each with their own perspective and views. I’m thinking about my sister and I being the only African Americans in our entire elementary school and trying to fit in.

I’m thinking about then going to a high school where roughly half the students were African American and trying to fit in.

I’m thinking about my Air Force career where I was often the only African American in my squadron or, as a senior officer, the only African American in the room.

I’m thinking about wearing the same flight suit with the same wings on my chest as my peers and then being questioned by another military member, are you a pilot?

I’m thinking about how I sometimes felt my comments were perceived to represent the African-American perspective when it’s just my perspective informed by being African American.

I’m thinking about some of the insensitive comments made without awareness by others.

I’m thinking about being a captain at the O[Officers] club with my squadron and being told by other after African Americans that I wasn’t black enough since I was spending more time with my squadron than with them.

I’m thinking about my mentors and how I rarely had a mentor that looked like me.

I’m thinking about the sound advice that has led to my success and even so, most of my mentors could not relate to my experience as an African American.

I’m thinking about the pressure I felt to perform error-free, especially for supervisors I perceived had expected less from me as an African American.

I think about having to represent by working twice as hard to prove their expectations and perceptions of African Americans were invalid.

I’m thinking about the airmen that have lived through similar experiences and feelings as mine or who were either consciously or unconsciously unfairly treated.

Conversely, I’m thinking about the airmen who don’t have us a life similar to mine and don’t have to navigate through two worlds. I’m thinking about how these airmen view racism. Whether they don’t see it as a problem since it doesn’t happen to them, or whether they’re empathetic.

I’m thinking about our two sons and how we had to prepare them to live in two worlds.

I’m thinking about the frank and emotional conversations my wife and I have had with them just this past week as we discussed the situations that have led to the protests around our country.

Finally, I’m thinking about my historic nomination to be the first African American to serve as the Air Force Chief of Staff.

I’m thinking about the African Americans that went before me to make this opportunity possible. I’m thinking about the immense expectations that come with this historic nomination, particularly through the lens of current events plaguing our nation.

I’m thinking about how I may have fallen short in my career and will likely continue falling short living up to all those expectations.

I’m thinking about how my nomination provides some hope but also comes with a heavy burden. I can’t fix centuries of racism in our country nor can I fix decades of discrimination that may have impacted members of our Air Force.

I’m thinking about how I can make improvements, personally, professionally, and institutionally so that all airmen, both today and tomorrow, appreciate the value of diversity and can serve in an environment where they can reach their full potential.

I think I don’t have all the answers on how to create such an environment whether here in PACAF or across our Air Force.

I’m thinking about without clear-cut answers, I just want to have the wisdom and knowledge to lead during difficult times like these. I want the wisdom and knowledge to lead, participate in, and listen to necessary conversations on racism, diversity, and inclusion. I want the wisdom and knowledge to lead those willing to take committed and sustained action to make our Air Force better.

That’s what I’m thinking about.

I wonder what you’re thinking about. I want to hear what you’re thinking about and how together we can make a difference.

Given the tenor of the times, it struck me as perfectly appropriate and in keeping with the core values of the US Air Force and US Armed Forces. And, again, this was hardly some secret event–it was widely broadcast at the time, while he was under Senate consideration. I follow defense matters pretty closely and never had the impression Brown was unusually focused on diversity issues.

Taken together, the firings of Brown, Franchetti, and Fagan might be seen as an indicator that, essentially by definition, if someone other than a white man is selected for a position, it was a diversity hire.

It was rather clear that President Biden liked to have firsts. Just off the top of my head:

• He appointed the first Black Secretary of Defense and was indeed under pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus, to whom he largely owed his nomination, to do so.
• He appointed the first transgender 4-star officer, appointing Rachel Levine as the Assistant Secretary for Health and taking the unusual step of having her sworn in as an admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. While this is authorized by law, it had customarily been reserved for those elevated from the Corp.
• He appointed both Fagan and Franchetti, making them, as already noted, the first women heads of an armed service and a military service.

Were these and Brown “DEI hires”? If one defines the term as considering race and gender in making the selections, then they absolutely were. If one defines it as appointing unqualified people to the job simply to fill a diversity quota, they absolutely were not.

The ouster of Slife—who I should note is a white man—will surely be lost in all of this. I have no idea what he did to get on the radar screen. His career looks exactly like one would expect someone who rose to his rank to look.