Trump taps Lt. Gen. Dan Caine to replace Gen. CQ Brown as Joint Chiefs chair

With just a few weeks having passed since his inauguration, President Donald Trump has already made significant changes at the top of the federal government as well as within the highest ranks of the military.

One of the president's most recent reshuffles involves the dismissal of Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the subsequent nomination of Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to take his place, as Fox News reports.

Brown dismissed from role

As ABC News noted on Friday, Trump announced the dismissal of Brown as Joint Chiefs chair as part of his push to reshape the highest ranks of the U.S. military.

Taking to his Truth Social platform to discuss the move, Trump wrote, “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 continued, “He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family.”

Brown was tapped to serve by then-President Joe Biden as the administration's top military advisor back in October 2023 and was slated to serve until September 2027.

Also announced on Friday was Trump's decision to relieve Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the top admiral in the Navy, from her duties.

Caine tapped to serve

Soon after announcing Brown's dismissal, Trump again took the Truth Social to tout the credentials of Caine, the man set to take his place as Joint Chiefs chair.

“General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a 'warfighter' with significant interagency and special operations experience,” wrote the president.

Trump noted that during his initial term in office, Caine took an “instrumental” role in engineering the “complete annihilation” of the ISIS caliphate, declaring that the job “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 said.

The president also lamented the fact that Caine had been bypassed for promotion by Biden, but vowed, “Alongside Secretary Pete Hegseth, General Caine and our military will restore peace through strength, put America First, and rebuild our military,” and those are all goals with which millions certainly agree.