Saturday 22 / February / 2025
Washington DC: In a major upheaval of the US military, the Donald Trump administration on Friday (local time) fired the top US general, a development which was followed by his defence secretary Pete Hegseth firing the Chief of the US Navy and the vice chief of the Air Force, CNN reported.
Trump announced he was dismissing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q Brown and replacing him with Air Force Lt. Gen. John Dan "Razin" Caine.
The move is considered significant as Caine is retired, CNN said citing an Air Force official, and is not a four-star general.
In a post on Truth Social, US President Trump thanked General Charles Q Brown for his "over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family."
In the same post, Trump said, "Today, I am honored to announce that I am nominating Air Force Lieutenant General Dan "Razin" Caine to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a "warfighter" with significant interagency and special operations experience."
"During my first term, Razin was instrumental in the complete annihilation of the ISIS caliphate. It was done in record setting time, a matter of weeks. Many so-called military "geniuses" said it would take years to defeat ISIS. General Caine, on the other hand, said it could be done quickly, and he delivered", the post added.
The US President also accused the Biden administration of passing over General Caine for promotion, despite him being "highly qualified and respected to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff".
Trump said that alongside "Secretary Pete Hegseth, General Caine and our military will restore peace through strength, put America First, and rebuild our military. Finally, I have also directed Secretary Hegseth to solicit nominations for five additional high-level positions, which will be announced soon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Minutes later, Hegseth released a statement announcing the firing of Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the chief of the Navy. Hegseth on Friday also said that General James Slife, the vice chief of the Air Force, had been fired and that he was "requesting nominations" for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force, indicating they will be replaced, as reported by CNN.
"I am also requesting nominations for the positions of Chief of Naval Operations and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff. 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," Hegseth said.
"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," he added.
Notably, the federal law requires the president to pick the top military officers from the combatant commands or the chiefs of the military services, all of which are 4-star positions. But the law also allows the President to waive the requirement if "such action is necessary in the national interest," according to CNN.
