According to reports, President Donald Trump abruptly dismissed Air Force General CQ Brown from his position as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday. This move is seen as part of the Trump administration's effort to purge the military of leaders who support diversity and equity, marginalizing a historically significant fighter pilot and highly respected officer.
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02-24, 2025General Brown's departure will undoubtedly send shockwaves through the Pentagon. He is only the second Black general in history to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During his 16-month tenure, he was primarily responsible for responding to the war in Ukraine and the escalating conflicts in the Middle East, making his dismissal even more surprising.
Trump posted on social media, "I want to thank General Charles 'CQ' Brown for his more than 40 years of service to the country, including his time as the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish him and his family all the best in the future."
Trump stated that he will nominate Air Force Lieutenant General Dan "Rezin" Kain to be the next chairman. According to his official military biography, Kain is a career F-16 pilot who has served in both active duty and the National Guard, and most recently served as the Deputy Director of Military Affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency.
On the day of his dismissal, General Brown was also assessing troop deployments at the U.S.-Mexico border in response to President Trump's executive order to combat illegal immigration. This shows the abrupt nature of the decision and its potential impact on ongoing military operations.
President Trump took the dismissal action despite key members of Congress expressing support for General Brown, and despite a friendly meeting between President Trump and General Brown at the Army-Navy football game in mid-December. Furthermore, General Brown had been holding regular meetings with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who had only taken over the top Pentagon post four weeks prior.
General Brown's future was questioned last month during Hegseth's confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. When asked if he would fire General Brown, Hegseth bluntly replied, "Every senior military officer will be reviewed based on meritocracy, standards, lethality, and commitment to lawful orders issued."
Hegseth has been a supporter of President Trump's efforts to end programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the military, and to dismiss those who reflect those values. He had previously publicly criticized General Brown, even questioning whether General Brown got the job because of his skin color, which has fueled speculation about the motivations behind the dismissal.
Nevertheless, when Hegseth walked into the Pentagon on January 27, his first day as Secretary of Defense, when directly asked if he planned to fire General Brown, Hegseth said, "I stand with him now and look forward to working with him," while patting General Brown on the back before walking into the building together. This makes the current situation even more confusing.
During his second term, President Trump has exercised his executive power in a more forceful manner and has replaced most of the officials who served during President Joe Biden's term, even though many of these positions should have been independent of successive administrations in a typical transition period.
General Brown is a career F-16 fighter pilot with over 3,000 flight hours and command experience at various levels. He is known as a calm but firm leader and is credited with driving institutional change. His selection as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was seen as critical to shifting the military's focus from two decades of war in the Middle East to preparing for and deterring potential conflict with China.
Before the Senate voted to confirm him as Air Force Chief of Staff in June 2020, General Brown gained attention for speaking publicly about the police killing of George Floyd a month earlier. He said that although he knew there were risks in doing so, discussions with his wife and son about the matter convinced him that he needed to say something.
Amid nationwide protests, General Brown released a video message to the Air Force entitled "This is My Thoughts." He described the pressures of being one of the few Black people in the force. He said he had always strived to "be error-free," but still faced prejudice. He said that even when he wore the same flight suit and wings as other pilots, his qualifications were still questioned.
In the video, General Brown said, "I'm thinking about my mentors, and how few mentors I had that looked like me. I'm thinking about how my nomination can bring some hope, but also bring a heavy burden—that I can't fix centuries of racism in our country, nor can I fix decades of discrimination that may impact members of the Air Force."
The Senate confirmed General Brown's nomination by an overwhelming vote of 98 to 0. Shortly thereafter, his name began to surface as a possible successor to retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.
General Brown's path to promotion was not without its obstacles—he was one of more than 260 senior military officers held up by Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville. Tuberville opposed a Department of Defense policy that provides funding for service members who have to travel out of state for abortions or other reproductive health care, sparking outrage in the Senate and leading to organizational adjustments within the Pentagon.
But in the final Senate vote in September 2023, General Brown was confirmed by an overwhelming margin of 89 to 8.
As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Brown spent much of his time focused on the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East, helping to determine what military aid to provide to Kyiv and coordinating support for Israel in response to Hamas and to repel multiple major attacks from Iran.
General Brown was born in San Antonio, Texas, and comes from a military family. His grandfather led a segregated Army unit in World War II, and his father was an artillery officer and Vietnam War veteran. General Brown grew up on several military bases, which helped foster his sense of mission.
It has been 30 years since Colin Powell became the first Black chairman, serving from 1989 to 1993. But according to a 2021 Department of Defense report, while African Americans make up 17.2% of the 1.3 million active-duty military personnel, only 9% of officers are Black.
General Brown's position as chairman was historic because it was the first time that both the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were Black.
