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Trump fires CQ Brown, nominates retired Air Force 3-star as replacement
- Core Insights Advisory Services
- Feb 24
- 1 min read
Source: Breaking Defense
Date: February 24, 2025
WASHINGTON — After four decades in uniform, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown was unceremoniously ushered from his post nearly two-and-a-half years early tonight via a social media message by President Donald Trump.
His unprecedented replacement: Dan Caine, a retired three-star Air Force officer.
“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,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family.”
It was not immediately clear if Brown was fired effective immediately, and if so, if Adm. Christopher Grady, the vice chairman, is now serving as the country’s top officer.
In a separate statement, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also announced that he was seeking nominations to replace Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Slife. It was not immediately clear if those two had been removed from their positions.
Trump and Hegseth have been on a quest to rid the military of “woke” generals supporting diversity and those who carried out orders related to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. And while Brown was not serving as President Joe Biden’s chief military adviser during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Trump supporters have repeatedly invoked his name when talking about “woke generals.”