Trump fires top-ranked US military officer as shake-ups spread

US Air Force General Charles Brown Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testifies at a Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, May 8, 2024. [AFP] President Donald Trump fired top US military officer General Charles "CQ" Brown on Friday, part of a major shake-up of the armed forces' leadership. Trump offered no explanation for Brown's dismissal less than two years into his four-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which followed sweeping layoffs of federal workers and moves to dismantle government institutions just a month into the president's second term. Brown had been nominated to the top military role by Democratic president Joe Biden and became only the second Black person to hold the position. Following Trump's announcement on Brown, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was seeking a replacement for Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as the top US Navy officer. Trump thanked Brown for "his over 40 years of service to our country" in a post on his Truth Social platform, describing him as "a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader." Brown has commanded a fighter squadron and two fighter wings, as well as US air forces under the Central Command and Indo-Pacific Command. He had served as Joint Chiefs chairman since October 2023. Following the 2020 murder of a Black man, George Floyd, by a white police officer in Minnesota, Brown -- an experienced fighter pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours, 130 of them in combat -- recorded an emotional video about his personal experiences, including with discrimination in the US military. "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," Brown said. "I'm thinking about the pressure I felt to perform error-free, especially for supervisors I perceive had expected less from me as an African American." Top Navy officer being replaced Hegseth had advocated for Brown's firing in a November podcast appearance, saying any top officers "involved in any of the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) woke shit has got to go," but told journalists last month that he was "looking forward to working" with the general. Trump said he was nominating Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Caine to replace Brown. He said Caine -- whom he recently described meeting in Iraq during his first term -- is "an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a 'warfighter' with significant interagency and special operations experience." Caine served in positions including associate director for military affairs at the CIA, as well as in various operational and staff roles, including more than 150 hours in combat as an F-16 pilot, an aircraft in which he logged more than 2,800 hours. Trump, in his trademark showman style, told a Saudi investor forum in Miami on Wednesday about meeting Caine in Iraq, where he was among a group of "handsome people, everybody's like from a movie set." According to Trump, Caine told the president that he went by the nickname "Razin." "I said, wait a minute, your name is Razin Caine? I love you, I've been looking for you for five years ... this is what I want," Trump recounted. In another major Pentagon shakeup, Hegseth said he was seeking a replacement for Franchetti, the first woman to serve as chief of naval operations and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "I am... requesting nominations for the positions of chief of naval operations and Air Force vice chief of staff," Hegseth said in a statement. "The incumbents in these important roles, Admiral Lisa Franchetti and General James Slife, respectively, have had distinguished careers. We thank them for their service and dedication to our country," he said, without explaining their departures. Franchetti had previously served on a series of surface vessels, commanding a guided missile destroyer, a destroyer squadron and two carrier strike groups. She was deputy commander of US naval forces in Europe and as well as in Africa, and deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development. She became vice chief of naval operations -- the service's number two position -- in September 2022 and took over the Navy's top job in November 2023.

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