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In a decisive restructuring of military leadership, President Donald Trump fired General Charles “CQ” Brown, the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. Armed Forces, on Friday. The unexpected move underscores Trump’s ongoing efforts to assert greater control over the country’s defense apparatus.
Trump gave no justification for the early removal of General Charles “CQ” Brown, whose term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was meant to last four years. His dismissal comes amid a series of aggressive federal layoffs and attempts to restructure or eliminate key government institutions, continuing a pattern that has emerged within the first month of Trump’s return to office.
Appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, Brown made history as the second Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His removal follows Trump’s broader overhaul of military leadership, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also confirming plans to replace Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first female chief of naval operations.
Trump, in a Truth Social post, praised Brown’s long career, thanking him for “over 40 years of service to our country” and commending him as “a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader.”
Brown has commanded a fighter squadron and two fighter wings, as well as US air forces under the Central Command and Indo-Pacific Command. He had served as Joint Chiefs chairman since October 2023.
Following the 2020 murder of a Black man, George Floyd, by a white police officer in Minnesota, Brown — an experienced fighter pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours, 130 of them in combat — recorded an emotional video about his personal experiences, including with discrimination in the US military.
“I’m thinking about my Air Force career, where I was often the only African American in my squadron or as a senior officer, the only African American in the room,” Brown said.
“I’m thinking about the pressure I felt to perform error-free, especially for supervisors I perceive had expected less from me as an African American.”
Hegseth had advocated for Brown’s firing in a November podcast appearance, saying any top officers “involved in any of the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) woke shit has got to go,” but told journalists last month that he was “looking forward to working” with the general.
Trump said he was nominating Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Caine to replace Brown.
