Dan Caine testifies April 1, 2025, during a Senate confirmation hearing about his nomination to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The former retired Air Force lieutenant general was confirmed as Joint Chiefs chairman on Friday, April 11, 2025. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted early Friday to confirm retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, elevating him to four-star general and the nation’s highest-ranking military position.
The vote was 60-25 and took place in the middle of the night to ensure Caine, a 34-year military veteran, could begin his role as the principal military adviser to President Donald Trump as the Senate departed for a two-week recess.
Democrats blocked an attempt to hold a quick vote on Caine’s nomination during the day on Thursday to protest Trump’s firing of the most recent chairman, Air Force Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, urged the Senate to stay “as long as it takes” to confirm Caine, pointing to increasing threats from China’s military buildup and the banding together of multiple adversaries against the United States.
The committee advanced Caine’s nomination this week on a 23-4 vote.
“We must… get the president’s chief military official on the job — because that is what the American people deserve and what the moment demands,” Wicker said.
Caine, 56, is stepping out of retirement to take the position. He is also the first Joint Chiefs chairman to have never served at the rank of four-star general or admiral before assuming the chairmanship.
By statute, the job is required to go to someone who has served as a combatant commander, as the vice chairman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff or as the top uniformed officer of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Space Force. Trump invoked a waiver to bypass those criteria.
Caine acknowledged he was an unconventional nominee at his confirmation hearing earlier this month. But he said his decades of military service and experience as an entrepreneur and investor made him a good fit for “unconventional times.”
“I realize for many Americans I’m an unknown leader and it is with a heart full of gratitude that I’ve been given a truly unique set of experiences that I believe have prepared me to be the 22nd chairman,” he said.
Caine followed his father into the Air Force, commissioning through the ROTC shortly after graduating from the Virginia Military Institute in 1990. An F-16 pilot with 150 combat flight hours, Caine was reportedly so aggressive in the cockpit that he earned the nickname “Razin Caine.”
On Sept. 11, 2001, Caine was a lead aviator protecting the skies above Washington following the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and New York’s World Trade Center. He also deployed to Iraq and served as a deputy commander in the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State.
Trump met Caine when he visited U.S. troops in western Iraq in 2018. The meeting made a great impression on Trump, who later recounted Caine told him that ISIS could be defeated in a week and not two years as his senior advisers predicted.
“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 repeatedly claimed Caine put on a Make America Great Again hat during the meeting — an account that Caine disputed at his confirmation hearing. Caine said he has “never worn any political merchandise.”
He sought to reassure senators that he would provide candid military advice to Trump, pledging to “speak truth to power” even if it was not what elected officials wanted to hear. He also said he 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,” Caine said.
Trump frequently clashed during his first term with former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, a now-retired Army general. Since Trump’s return to the White House in January, Milley has had his security detail revoked, his security clearance suspended and is under an investigation that could bump down his rank.
“It’s always a challenge to stand up to this president,” Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, told Caine at his confirmation hearing.
Caine noted he served three presidents from both political parties as a general officer. His most recent role was associate director for military affairs at the CIA, where he was the agency’s primary liaison to the Defense Department.
As a part-time member of the Air National Guard from 2009 to 2016, Caine ventured into the business world and became a “serial entrepreneur and investor” who founded and led companies. He joined a venture capital firm called Shield Capital after retiring in December.
He said he learned “what a different kind of grit looks like” as a businessman and would apply those lessons to the chairmanship.
“Our American entrepreneurial spirit is a force multiplier and my time as an entrepreneur has made me a better general officer and leader,” he said. “I’ll bring more of that spirit into the joint force.”
shkolnikova.svetlana@stripes.com
Twitter: @svetashko
