US President Donald Trump sacked the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, CQ Brown, the highest-ranking officer in the country, as part of a dramatic shake-up of top military leadership.
“I want to thank General Charles ‘CQ’ Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country,” Trump posted on social media. He said five other top officers were also being replaced.
Gen. Brown was the second Black officer to hold the position, which advises both the president and the secretary of defense on national security.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier stated that Gen. Brown should be sacked due to his “woke” emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the military.
Later on Friday, Hegseth fired two more senior officers: Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Jim Slife.
Adm. Franchetti was the first woman to lead the United States Navy.
Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, appointed all three of the top officers who were ousted on Friday.
Hegseth said in a statement, “Under President Trump, we are putting in place new leadership that will focus our military on its core mission of deterring, fighting, and winning wars.”
Trump said he would select Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine—a former F-16 pilot who most recently served as CIA associate director for military affairs—as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Last year, addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump recounted first meeting Gen. Caine in Iraq. “He looked better than any movie actor you could get,” Trump told the crowd.
In the same speech, he lauded the US military but claimed it was “woke at the top.”.
Gen. Brown visited troops at the southern US border on Friday, two hours before Trump announced his departure.
Rumors had been swirling this week that the president would remove the commander, whose term was set to expire in 2027.
Gen. Brown made headlines in 2020 when he spoke out about race following the death of George Floyd.
He posted a video message to the US Air Force describing the pressures he had felt as one of the few Black men.
In 2022, as chief of staff of the Air Force, Gen. Brown co-signed a document setting out diversity goals to boost the proportion of minority officer applications while adjusting the lower rate of white candidates, according to the Air Force Times.
Colin Powell, the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, served from 1989 to 1993.
One of Trump’s first moves after being sworn in last month was to fire the Coast Guard’s first female commandant, claiming an “excessive focus” on diversity.
Hegseth stated on a podcast in November, before being confirmed, that the Trump administration should “course correct” several issues in the military, including diversity initiatives.
“First of all, you have to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” Hegseth stated in describing the steps he believed Trump should take.
