A massive turnover at the top of America’s fighting forces began Friday night.
The evening began with President Donald Trump ousting Air Force Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth then weighed in to announce he had removed Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the top officer in the Navy, and Air Force Gen. James Slife, the service’s number two commander, according to Military.com, which called the firing a “historic and unprecedented move.”
The site added that what it called a “historic, though legal, gutting of military ranks by civilian leadership” was designed to remove targets criticized in “conservative circles who argued, without evidence, that they had gotten the job to fill a diversity quota rather than on merit.” CNN, meanwhile, called the high cpmmand changes a “purge.”
The removals came as the Defense Department is preparing to cut 5,400 civilian jobs as a first step to cutting the department’s staff by between 5 percent and 8 percent.
Trump announced Brown’s replacement in a post on Truth Social.
“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. He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family,” Trump wrote.
“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,” Trump wrote in a Friday night post.
JUST IN: General Charles Q. Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters he plans to stay in his position.
Brown is obsessed with race-based diversity quotas. He signed a memo stating his “goal” is to reduce the number of White Males in the Air Force.
This man… pic.twitter.com/nxtpMrB7HV
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 20, 2025
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“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,” Trump wrote.
Trump said Caine’s new job is part of major changes in the leadership of the armed forces.
“Despite being highly qualified and respected to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the previous administration, General Caine was passed over for promotion by Sleepy Joe Biden. But not anymore! Alongside Secretary Pete Hegseth, General Caine and our military will restore peace through strength, put America First, and rebuild our military,” he wrote.
“Finally, I have also directed Secretary Hegseth to solicit nominations for five additional high level positions, which will be announced soon,” Trump wrote.
Hegseth then announced in a news release on the website of the Department of Defense that he was replacing Franchetti and Slife.
“We are also requesting nominations for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force,” Hegseth wrote.
“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 wrote.
Hegseth had telegraphed the changes in a November podcast, according to Military.com, when he said DEI hires needed to be culled.
“First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” Hegseth said then
“Any general that was involved, any general, admiral, whatever, that was involved in any of the DEI woke sh– has got to go,” he said then.
In a recent book, Hegseth snarked about Franchetti’s appointment, saying it stemmed from a philosophy in which “politics is all about optics instead of results.”
“Naval operations being weakened won’t matter to anyone,” he wrote
Slife had written in 2020 that fighting racism was critical in the military.
“We’d be naive to think issues of institutional racism and unconscious bias don’t affect us,” a memo he authored read. “We can’t ignore it. We have to face it. And to face it, we have to talk about it.”
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