US President Donald Trump Fires Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff CQ Brown Jr

US President Donald Trump sacked American Air Force General CQ Brown Jr as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, February 21. The move is part of Trump's broader effort to purge military leadership that advocates for diversity and equity within the ranks.

Brown was the second Black general to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is expected to reverberate 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.

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“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.

Trump says he is nominating 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 had most recently served as the associate director for military affairs at the CIA, according to his official 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, it does not include key assignments that were identified in law as prerequisites for the job, with an exemption for the president to waive them if necessary in times of national interest.