Feb. 21 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday fired Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a widely expected move as the Pentagon braces for workforce cuts.
Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Sociala.
“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 wrote about Brown.
Brown, 63, was in the top job for 16 months. He represented the Air Force from 2020 to 2023.
Trump said he is nominating Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next chairman.
“General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a ‘warfighter’ with significant interagency and special operations experience,” he wrote.
“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,” Trump added. “But not anymore! Alongside Secretary Pete Hegseth, General Caine and our military will restore peace through strength, put America First, and rebuild our military.”
Trump also said he had directed Hegseth “to solicit nominations for five additional high-level positions, which will be announced soon.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also announced Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti and Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force James Slife were also being fired. In 2023, Franchetti became the first woman to lead the Navy.
Hergseth they “have had distinguished careers. We thank them for their service and dedication to our country.”
In January, the administration removed former Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan within hours of Trump taking office.
Joint Chiefs of Staff members advise the president, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the National Security Council on military matters.
Pentagon reductions
The Department of Defense said it anticipates ultimately firing 5% to 8% — or 47,000 to 76,000 people — of the military’s approximately 950,000 civilian employees. About 5,400 probationary workers who don’t have “mission-critical” roles are expected to be terminated next week.
“As the Secretary made clear, it is simply not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission-critical,” Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Darin Selnick said in a statement. “Taxpayers deserve to have us take a thorough look at our workforce top-to-bottom to see where we can eliminate redundancies.”
Hegseth had asked his top aides to decide to cut the budget 8% over each of the next five years.