President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General CQ Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer.
The president will also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the air force vice chief of staff, the Pentagon said. He is also removing the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force, critical positions that ensure enforcement of military justice.
Trump’s decision sets off a period of upheaval at the Pentagon, which was already bracing for mass firings of civilian staff, a dramatic overhaul of its budget and a shift in military deployments under Trump’s new America First foreign policy.
While the Pentagon’s civilian leadership changes from one administration to the next, the uniformed members of the US armed forces are meant to be apolitical, carrying out the policies of Democratic and Republican administrations.
Brown, the second Black officer to become the president’s top uniformed military adviser, had been expected to complete his four-year term in September 2027.
A US official said Brown was relieved with immediate effect, before the Senate confirms his successor.
Reuters in November was first to report that the incoming Trump administration planned a sweeping shakeup of the top brass, with firings including Brown.
Democratic lawmakers condemned the decision by Trump, a Republican.
“Firing uniformed leaders as a type of political loyalty test, or for reasons relating to diversity and gender that have nothing to do with performance, erodes the trust and professionalism that our servicemembers require to achieve their missions,” said Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the firings were “un-American, unpatriotic, and dangerous for our troops and our national security.”
“This is the definition of politicising our military,” he said.
