TEHRAN, February 22 (MNA) – President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General CQ Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership.Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate retired Lieut Gen Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown.

A former F-16 fighter pilot, Caine was the associate director of military affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency until late last year, Reuters reported.

Trump will also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the Air Force vice chief of staff and judge advocates general for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the Pentagon said.

Trump’s decision sets off a period of upheaval at the Pentagon, which was already bracing for mass firings of civilian staff, a dramatic overhaul of its budget, and a shift in military deployments under Trump’s new America First foreign policy.

While the Pentagon’s civilian leadership changes from one administration to the next, the uniformed members of the US armed forces are meant to be apolitical and carry out the policies of Democratic and Republican administrations.

Brown, the second Black officer to become the president’s top uniformed military adviser, had been expected to complete his entire four-year term in September 2027.

A US official said Brown was relieved with immediate effect, even before the Senate confirmed his successor.

During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump spoke of firing “woke” generals and those responsible for the troubled 2021 pullout from Afghanistan.

On Friday, the president did not explain his decision to replace Brown.

SD/