The Trump administration fired the top military brass on Friday, including Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti, and Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force James Slife.
These moves come as the Pentagon prepares to lay off up to 76,000 civilian employees and cut the Department of Defense budget by 8%.
President Donald Trump first announced Brown’s firing, which was widely expected, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the departure and the other two firings. Hegseth had criticized Brown and Franchetti, questioning their promotions.
Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social.
“I’d like to thank General Charles ‘CQ’ Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, which includes his current position as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish him and his family a bright future,” Trump wrote of Brown.
Brown, 63, held the top job for 16 months. He served with the Air Force from 2020 to 2023.
Trump announced that he has nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next chairman, which requires Senate approval. Caine retired in 2024 as a three-star general.
“General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a ‘warfighter’ with significant interagency and special operations experience,” he published.
“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,” Mr. Trump said. But not anymore! Together with Secretary Pete Hegseth, General Caine and our military will restore peace through strength, put America first, and rebuild our military.”
Hegseth stated, “Caine embodies the warfighter ethos and is precisely the leader we require to meet the moment.” I’m looking forward to working with him.
His predecessor “has served with distinction in a career that spans four decades of honorable service.” I have come to know him as a thoughtful adviser, and I commend him for his distinguished service to our country.”
However, in his book The War on Warriors, Brown, who is Black, claims that he built his generalship by pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians, who in turn rewarded him with promotions.
Hergseth mentioned Franchetti and James Slife. “They’ve had distinguished careers.” We appreciate their service and dedication to our country.
However, Hegseth criticized the admiral in his book for her lack of combat experience, despite becoming the first woman to lead the Navy in 2023 and leading two carrier strike groups.
“If naval operations suffers, at least we can hold our heads high,” he wrote in an email. “Because we’ve got another first! Hooray! The first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “For social justice ideologues, PR is more important than reality,” he wrote.
Trump also stated that he had directed Hegseth “to solicit nominations for five additional high-level positions, which will be announced soon.”
Within hours of Trump’s inauguration, the administration removed former Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan.
Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff advise the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, and the National Security Council on military issues.
Pentagon reductions
The Department of Defense stated that it expects to fire 5% to 8% — or 47,000 to 76,000 — of the military’s approximately 950,000 civilian employees. Approximately 5,400 probationary workers who do not have “mission-critical” roles are scheduled 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,” Darin Selnick, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, stated. “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 whether to cut the budget by 8% each year for the next five.