Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine testifies Tuesday, April 1, 2025, during a Senate confirmation hearing about his nomination to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Dan Caine, a retired Air Force lieutenant general, committed Tuesday to serving as a nonpartisan leader who would give unvarnished military advice and always “strive to do the right thing” if confirmed as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Caine, 56, said he will “speak truth to power” as the country’s most senior military officer and principal military adviser to the president, defense secretary, National Security Council and Congress.
The role has been notoriously tumultuous under President Donald Trump.
Army Gen. Mark Milley, the now retired Joint Chiefs chairman, repeatedly clashed with Trump during his first term, and the most recent chairman, Air Force Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, was fired by Trump in February amid an effort to push out officers who support diversity, equity and inclusion in the ranks.
Caine told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that he was willing to give military advice elected leaders might not want to hear and was willing to be fired for following the Constitution.
“Candor has gotten me here today, and candor will continue to allow me to do my job moving forward,” he said during his confirmation hearing. “The president doesn’t have to accept the military advice or the secretary or the NSC, but we owe it to them for us to deliver that military advice.”
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine testifies Tuesday, April 1, 2025, during a Senate confirmation hearing about his nomination to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Caine acknowledged he was an unconventional nominee for the position and an unknown leader.
By law, the job is required to go to a four-star general or admiral who previously served as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs or the top commander of a service branch or a combatant command.
The president, however, can waive those requirements if “necessary in the national interest.”
Trump has praised Caine as “an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur and a ‘warfighter’ with significant interagency and special operations experience.”
The two first met in 2018, when Caine was serving as a deputy commander in the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Trump said he was impressed by Caine’s assessment that the fight could be ended in weeks rather than years.
“I said, ‘Why didn’t my other generals tell me that? Why didn’t they tell me that?’ ” Trump said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019.
Trump also claimed Caine put on a Make American Great Again hat while meeting with him in Iraq. But Caine shot that down Tuesday, saying he has “never worn any political merchandise.”
He also disputed Trump’s recollection that Caine said he loved Trump and would “kill” for him.
“I went back and listened to those tapes, and I think the president was talking about someone else,” Caine said.
He said he never aimed to become Joint Chiefs chairman, and his nomination came as a surprise. But he believed his 34 years in the military, where his father also served as a fighter pilot, prepared well him for the position.
“I learned about service from my parents and the other members of my family who served not because it was easy, but because it was the right thing to do,” he said. “In our family, we serve. When asked, we always say ‘yes.’ ”
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, right, shakes hands with Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Caine commissioned into the Air Force through the ROTC shortly after graduating from the Virginia Military Institute in 1990. He flew F-16 fighter jets and was reportedly so aggressive in the cockpit that he earned the nickname “Razin’ Caine,” an idiom for someone who causes trouble.
He flew more than 150 combat hours and on Sept. 11, 2001, was the lead aviator protecting the skies above Washington in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, armed with air-to-air missiles.
Caine later served in the Air National Guard and worked at senior levels of Joint Special Operations Command. He was most recently the associate director for military affairs at the CIA, where he was the agency’s primary liaison to the Defense Department.
After retiring in December, Caine joined a venture capital firm called Shield Capital. He was a “serial entrepreneur and investor” from 2009 to 2016 while serving part time in the National Guard, according to the Air Force.
Caine said Tuesday that his background in business made him a better general officer and leader, and he would bring an “entrepreneurial spirit” to the Joint Chiefs chairmanship.
He also noted he served three presidents from both political parties as a general officer in the military.
Caine’s testimony in the Senate came a week after it was revealed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top national security officials used a commercial messaging app to discuss pending airstrikes in Yemen.
Several senators questioned Caine about the episode and though Caine largely declined to weigh in on it, he said “the element of surprise” should always be preserved for military actions.
“I just know I’ve always used the right system for the right kinds of conversations,” he said.
