President Trump fired senior military officers on Friday after weeks of turmoil at the Pentagon, injecting politics into choosing top U.S. military leaders.
General Charles Q. Brown Jr., a four-star fighter pilot, would give it to the president six years ago.
In a message on truth socialization, Mr. Trump said: “Today, I am honored to announce that I nominated Air Force Lieutenant General Dan'Razin'Caine as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff .” “General Kane is an outstanding pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a 'warrior' with important inter-agency and special operations experience.”
Regardless of the president's party, the United Emirates president traditionally remains as the government changes. But current White House and Pentagon officials said they want to appoint their top leaders.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also noted in a statement about General Brown and General Kane that Lisa Franchetti, the first woman leading the Navy, was fired, Air Force General James C. Slife was also fired. .
“I also requested nominations for the head of Navy Operations and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force,” Mr. Hegseth said. “In these important roles, General Lisa Franchetti and General James Slife's Careers are outstanding careers respectively. We thank them for their service and dedication to our country.”
Mr. Heggs also fired judge advocates or senior military lawyers to the military, the Navy and the Air Force, but did not explain why. Mr. Heggs criticized military lawyers for imposing unnecessary legal restrictions on soldiers during combat during the Senate confirmation hearing last month – “putting his priorities in front of combatants those who made tough calls on the frontline The person.”
The decision to fire General Brown reflects Mr. Trump's insistence that the military's leaders are in trouble with diversity issues, lose their role as combat power to defend the country and are out of touch with his “America First” movement .
Mr. Heggs had previously said General Brown should be fired because his “wake” focused on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the military.
“First of all, you have to fire the Joint Chiefs Chairman,” Mr. Heggs said during his appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show in November. He added that any general involved in the DEI efforts would Should be fired. “You either go into the fight, that's it.” “This is the only rock test we care about.”
However, on Mr. Heggs' first day at the Pentagon, he stood next to General Brown, who became chairman in October 2023, and said he looked forward to working with him.
But soon, General Brown was not welcomed by Mr. Trump's inner circle. Officials said he was not invited to hold a key meeting with the president.
Starting in 2020, Mr. Trump nominated General Brown as Chief of Staff of the Air Force, a major reversal. At the time, the president pointed out the historical significance of his decision to appoint “the first African-American military service chief ever,” he wrote on social media that the general was “a patriot and a great leader.”
General Brown has told his assistant many times that he would not resign. On Friday, he reviewed the military's latest mission to help implement Mr. Trump's immigration directives.
Mr. Trump did not say in his post why General Brown was fired. “He is an outstanding gentleman and an outstanding leader and I hope he and his family will have a bright future,” the president wrote.
General Brown found that Mr. Heggs was dismissed Friday night when he called him at his hotel in El Paso, a military official said.
General Kane retired as three stars and is a lieutenant general. According to regulations, anyone elected to chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff should serve as combatants, as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or as a top official of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Air Force, Marine Corps or Space Force.
It is not clear whether General Kane needs Congressional exemption. A congressional aide said the president has a certain latitude to choose who he wants, and exceptions can be made for national security reasons.
Whether he needs one or not, he needs to get confirmation from the Senate.
In the past, the position was seen as a position that spanned the government like the military itself.
In recent years, Mr. Trump publicly praised General Kane for telling him that the ISIS may be much faster than his advisers suggested. The details of stories that cannot be independently verified have changed over time. Mr. Trump said in a version that the general claimed it would take a week to beat the group. In another, he said for four weeks.
Mr. Trump also claimed that at the Iraqi meeting in Iraq in December 2018, General Kane wore the hat of “making America great again” because he opposed the military norm that active troops should not wear political instruments.
Trump once again praised General Kane's counter-terrorism skills in his post on social truth.
“In my first term, Razin played a role in the complete elimination of the IS caliphate,” Mr Trump said. “This was done in record time, only a few weeks. Many so-called military “Genius” said it would take years to beat ISIS. On the other hand, General Kane said it could be done soon and he delivered.”
In fact, when Mr. Trump visited General Kane in Iraq in December 2018, other senior U.S. officials said that while the reconstruction of Iraq could take years, the final remnant of the Islamic State was only a few months old. A distance away.
Mr. Trump has been following the position of the United Emirates president since 2019, when he chose General Mark A. Milley, the predecessor of General Brown, and the president felt very sorry.
Mr. Trump complained in particular about General Millie calling on his Chinese counterparts within weeks of the decline of the president's first term. In a social media article, Mr. Trump called the act “so shocking that in the past, the punishment would be death!”
Aides say having loyalists as his senior military adviser is now crucial to Mr. Trump.
The Pentagon is the largest federal agency, which includes three million employees, including 1.3 million serving members, and General Brown was fired. Officials said Mr. Heggs had ordered senior military and defense officials to develop plans to cut 8 per cent from the military budget in each of the next five years.
In a memo released on Tuesday, Mr. Heggs said the military and many branches of the Pentagon should submit budget cuts by Monday, two officials said. The memorandum lists 17 proposed exceptions, including military operations on the southern border.
According to two people familiar with the deliberation, over the past two weeks, it was decided to replace General Brown with General Kane and was held closely among a small number of senior government officials.
When Mr. Heggs was in Europe last week, General Kane met with Vice President JD Vance and then met with Mr. Trump. One of the people said Mr. Heggs and General Kane spoke several times, and Mr. Heggs advocated appointments.
Although reports on the list of fired senior generals and admirals have been circulated on Capitol Hill for weeks, administration officials said the senior House and Senate had not been consulted before Mr. Trump decided to ease General Brown. leader.
In a statement Friday night, Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican of Mississippi, was responsible for the Armed Services Committee (a group that approved all military nominations) praised General Brown, but did not mention Kai, who has not yet been formally nominated. General Enemy.
“I thank Chairman Brown for providing decades of honorary service to our country,” Wick said in a statement. “I am confident that Secretary Heggs and President Trump will serve as the key to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Wick said. Choose a qualified and competent successor. ”
Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Forces Committee, is critical of the move. “Testing for political loyalty with unified leaders for reasons that are not related to performance, erode the trust and professionalism needed by our service members to achieve their mission .”
Even Mr. Heggs's strongest supporters in Congress warn that the removal of senior Pentagon teams could lead to a plunge in morale.
“There's a lot of discussion about expelling the 'wake' general,” said in a Senate confirmation hearing in Hegseth last month. “I Will say, under the new leadership, give those men and women a chance.”
The recent United Emirates Chairman has served four years, a few months before the president nominated the current chairman to resign. Mr. Trump hinted during his first term that General Miley would be the choice to replace General Joseph Dunford.
Since General Kane has retired, he must be asked to return to active duty to have a Senate hearing on his nomination. After President John F. Kennedy retired in 1962, only one retired officer was retired as chairman: General Maxwell Taylor.
It is unclear whether General Brown will continue to serve as chairman until his successor is confirmed by the Senate or whether Vice Chairman Christopher W. Gradys will serve as acting chairman.
Mr. Trump has fired four four-star officials in the past month. Within 24 hours after the second inauguration, the president fired Linda L. Fagan, the first Coast Guard commander.
John Ismay Contribution report.
