WASHINGTON — President Trump’s nominee to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, told senators Tuesday that he understands he is an unknown and unconventional nominee — but that the U.S. is facing unconventional and unprecedented threats and he is ready to serve in its defense.

At his confirmation hearing to become the top U.S. military officer, he said he would be candid in his advice to Trump and vowed to be apolitical. While Caine stopped short of criticizing top leaders for using a Signal chat to discuss plans for an attack against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, he told senators during questioning that he always communicates in proper channels.

Caine is a decorated F-16 combat pilot who served in leadership in multiple special operations commands and in some of the Pentagon’s most classified programs. While Caine does not meet prerequisites for the job set out in a 1986 law — such as being a combatant commander or service chief — lawmakers noted his decades of service. Those requirements can be waived by the president.

“I realize for many Americans, I am an unknown leader,” Caine said in his opening remarks. He spoke of serving under presidents of both parties and his expansive experience, which also included service in the National Guard, the private sector and the CIA.

Democrats noted that Caine was nominated after Trump fired Gen. CQ Brown Jr. in a purge of generals who were viewed by the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as endorsing diversity, equity and inclusion in the ranks.

“I trust that you understand the fraught situation within which you have been nominated to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” said Sen. Jack Reed, senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “In this regard, your distinguished record of service is encouraging.”

The committee chairman, Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, said he’s convinced Caine sees his job as nonpartisan.

“We can argue politics up here on the dais, but I expect Gen. Caine to stay out of it no matter the subject,” he said.

Caine disputes MAGA hat story

In his remarks, Caine sought to assure lawmakers of his approach to readying the nation for future wars. He said his military experience, which included seeing fellow service members die, has shaped his views on when to use force and “the importance of carefully considering the use of that force.”

Caine also for the first time publicly denied that he had ever worn a MAGA hat. Trump has told a story about Caine saying he wore one of the hats when the two met some years ago.

When asked during the hearing, Caine said, “For 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of office and my commitment to my commission. And I have never worn any political merchandise.”

He said Trump must have been “talking about somebody else.”

Caine has been described by former military colleagues as a deeply serious career officer who has spent the past few weeks meeting both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, said a former U.S. official who has helped Caine prepare for the confirmation process and spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details on Caine’s nomination.

Questions on attack plans sent in Signal

Caine also was asked about senior national security officials using a Signal chat to communicate about airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthis, including Hegseth posting tactical details before the operation had launched. That chat, which included a journalist, did not include acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Christopher Brady.

“From what I understand of that chat, it was a partisan political chat and so the joint force should not have been represented,” Caine told the lawmakers.

Caine declined to comment on whether senior U.S. officials who were in the chat — including the vice president, Defense secretary, secretary of State and national security advisor — should have discussed battle plans on an unclassified, commercial application.

“What I will say is we should always preserve the element of surprise,” Caine said.

Trump’s top military advisor

While Caine would be the military’s top uniformed officer, his chief duty would be serving as the president’s primary military advisor. Caine told senators that the military must remain apolitical.

“I think it starts with being a good example from the top and making sure that we are nonpartisan and apolitical and speaking the truth to power.”

During his first term, Trump’s relationship with then-Chairman Gen. Mark Milley soured as Milley pushed back and took steps to try to prevent what he saw as an attempt to politicize the office. Milley would remind military service members that they took an oath to the Constitution, not to a president.

Within hours of Trump being sworn in office in January, Milley’s portrait as chairman of the Joint Chiefs was removed from the Pentagon. Trump and Hegseth have subsequently stripped Milley of his security clearance and security detail.

Because he retired in December, Caine would need to be sworn back into active duty. That would take place after he is confirmed, and then he would be promoted to four-star general, the former U.S. official said.

Caine has spent time inside the Pentagon, leading its Special Access Programs Central Office, which oversees what classified information on weapons programs is shared with foreign governments.

He also served as the commander of the joint special operations task force in Iraq in 2008 and as the assistant commanding general of joint special operations command at Ft. Bragg. From 2018 to 2019, he was the deputy commanding general of the special operations joint task force for Operation Inherent Resolve, countering the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

He also was associate director for military affairs at the CIA from 2021 until he retired in December.

Caine transferred into the National Guard in 2009 and began working in the private sector, including as an advisor at an investment firm run by the brother of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

He has more than 2,800 flying hours in the F-16 and has earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bronze Star Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster, among other awards.

Copp writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Lolita C. Baldor and Matt Brown in Washington contributed to this report.