Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks April 26, 2024, during a news briefing at the Pentagon. (Kevin Wolf/AP)
WASHINGTON — Air Force Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was fired Friday night by President Donald Trump, and Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations, was also relieved of duty.
“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 said 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.”
Reports have circulated Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would fire senior officers who were promoted during former President Joe Biden’s administration and replace them with others more aligned with Trump’s agenda.
Brown and Franchetti were reported this week as being on the list of names to be fired. Franchetti was relieved of duty Friday, according to a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump in his social media post nominated retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next chairman.
“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,” Trump said. “Many so-called military ‘geniuses’ said it would take years to defeat ISIS. Gen. Caine, on the other hand, said it could be done quickly, and he delivered. Despite being highly qualified and respected to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the previous administration, Gen. Caine was passed over for promotion by Sleepy Joe Biden. But not anymore!”
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, posted on X that the firings are “more chaos” from Trump on national security.
“Firing CQ Brown as joint chiefs chair is completely unjustified,” Smith said. “Smart, competent leader to be replaced by a retired 3 star? More weakening of America. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin just keeps smiling.”
Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations, testifies in September 2023 at a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
Trump added he has directed Hegseth to solicit nominations for five additional high-level positions, which will be announced soon.
Minutes after the post, Hegseth in a statement said the Pentagon would be looking for chief of naval operations and Air Force vice chief of staff nominations. Franchetti has served as the Navy’s top officer since November 2023, and Air Force Gen. James Slife is the service’s second-highest ranking officer. Slife was also fired Friday.
Hegseth also said he is requesting nominations for the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
“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 said.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement he was troubled by the dismissals and they appear to be part of a “broader, premeditated campaign” by Trump and Hegseth to purge talented officers for politically charged reasons.
“I salute Gen. CQ Brown, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Gen. James Slife and their fellow officers for their outstanding service. Each of them have had brilliant careers and led with great courage, honor, and distinction. We owe all of them a debt of gratitude for their service and sacrifice.”
Brown served as the president’s top military adviser and has been chairman since October 2023. Brown is the second Black man to serve as chairman. His four-year term was slated to end in 2027. While the chairman is not in the direct chain of command and is not charged with commanding troops, the role is instrumental in shaping Pentagon policy and planning U.S. military operations worldwide.
Brown visited troops along the U.S.-Mexico border Friday to assess the military’s progress in fortifying sections of the wall, coming as the Pentagon rapidly expands its border mission. Hours before Trump’s post, Brown posted on his official X account images of him meeting troops on the border.
Hegseth, prior to becoming defense secretary, criticized Brown.
“First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” Hegseth said in a November appearance on the “Shawn Ryan Show.” “But any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI woke s--- has got to go. Either you’re in for warfighting, and that’s it. That’s the only litmus test we care about.”
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Air Force Gen. James Slife, the service’s vice chief of staff, speaks April 16, 2024, during a meeting at the Pentagon. (Eric Dietrich/U.S. Air Force)
Hegseth in his latest book, “The War on Warriors,” also criticized Franchetti for her lack of combat experience and suggested she was hired because she is a woman.
“If naval operations suffer, at least we can hold our heads high. Because at least we have another first! The first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — hooray. For social justice ideologues, PR matters more than reality,” he wrote.
Franchetti graduated from Northwestern University and was commissioned in the Navy in 1985. She became a career surface warfare officer, commanding ships, squadrons, carrier strike groups and fleets. She served as commander of the U.S. 6th Fleet from 2018 to 2020 and was appointed as the Navy’s second highest-ranking officer in 2022.
Franchetti is only the second female four-star admiral in the Navy’s nearly 250-year history.
Slife, a pilot with more than 3,100 flight hours, served as commander of Air Force Special Operations Command prior to becoming the service’s vice chief of staff. He spent most of his career in special operations and has served as vice commander of U.S. Southern Command, chief of staff for U.S. Special Operations Command and chief of staff for United Nations Command and U.S. Forces Korea.
The president has the authority to remove any general or senior officer from their position and reassign them, should they refuse a request to resign. Three- and four-star generals or admirals only hold those ranks while in certain senior leadership roles. If forced out of a role, there might not be another opening available for them, and such relief of authority is generally a career-ender.
“There are valid reasons to remove a general or flag officer, but there must be clear, transparent, and apolitical criteria and processes associated with any such dismissal,” a bipartisan group of House lawmakers with military backgrounds wrote in a letter to Hegseth on Friday.
Lawmakers said they recognized the president retains the authority to dismiss commissioned military officers but pointed out that officers swear an oath to the Constitution that is “sacred and apolitical.”
“The general and flag officers of this country are patriots who have dedicated their lives to the defense of the United States,” the lawmakers wrote. “Most, if not all, of the current three- and four-star general and flag officers were general or flag officers under the first Trump administration and all have served honorably under many administrations of both parties.”
Brown was nominated by Trump in 2020 to become the first Black Air Force chief of staff.
After George Floyd’s killing in 2020 by a Minneapolis police officer sparked a nationwide reckoning on race, Brown released a video speaking frankly about the impact of racism on his military life.
“I’m thinking about some of the insensitive comments made by others without awareness,” the general said in the five-minute video in which he details often being the only Black officer in his units. “I’m thinking about wearing the same flight suit with the same wings on my chest as my peers, and then being questioned by another military member, ‘Are you a pilot?’ ”
Brown graduated from Texas Tech University in 1984 and was commissioned through the school’s ROTC program. He commanded a fighter squadron, the Air Force Weapons School, two fighter wings, and served as an adviser to top Air Force uniformed and civilian leaders. He also served as the No. 2 general for U.S. Central Command from July 2016 to July 2018, before taking command of U.S. Pacific Air Forces, his last assignment before becoming Air Force chief of staff.
At Hegseth’s confirmation hearing last month, he danced around a question about whether he would fire Brown when asked by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., if Brown might be on a list of senior officers to be removed from their jobs.
“Senator, every single senior officer will be reviewed based on meritocracy standards, lethality and commitment to lawful orders they will be given,” Hegseth said.
As Hegseth climbed the Pentagon steps at the end of January to begin his first week as Defense Secretary, he responded to questions from reporters, including whether he would fire Brown or other Pentagon leaders. Hegseth appeared to sidestep the question, instead telling the reporters that he was “standing with him right now.”
Moments before Hegseth was asked whether he would fire Brown, he thanked the general for welcoming him and said they would “get to work.”
“Our job is lethality and readiness and warfighting and hold people accountable. I know the chairman agrees with that,” he said. “The lawful orders of the President of the United States will be executed inside this Defense Department, swiftly and without excuse.”
The firings come after reports of Hegseth ordering senior leaders at the Pentagon and throughout the U.S. military to develop plans for cutting 8% — or $50 billion — from the defense budget in each of the next five years.
In a video posted on X on Thursday night, Hegseth said the 8% will be pulled from non-mission-essential programs in the budget to direct the expenditures toward priorities at the top of the Trump administration’s agenda.
“That’s not a cut. It’s refocusing and reinvesting existing funds into building the force that protects you, the American people,” he said. “In short, we want the biggest, most badass military on the planet, on God’s green earth.”
The Pentagon on Friday evening also announced about 5,400 Defense Department civilian probationary employees will be fired beginning next week.
Defense officials for the past week have braced for the firings of probationary workers, which generally refers to people hired in the past year.
Hegseth addressed reviewing probationary employees and said jobs won’t be eliminated in an across-the-board manner and performance will be considered.
“Common sense would tell us … we start with the poor performers among our probationary employees because it’s common sense that you want the best and brightest,” he said.
