Trump fires top US general CQ Brown in shake-up at Pentagon
BBC News, Washington
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U.S. President Donald Trump fired CQ Brown, co-chair of the country’s top officer, as part of a major restructuring of senior military leadership.
“I want to thank General Charles CQ’Brown for serving our country for 40 years,” Trump announced on social media. Five other senior officers were replaced, he said.
General Brown is the second black official to hold the post, and the holder of the post advises the president and the secretary of defense on national security.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had previously said General Brown’s “wake up” because his “wake up” focused on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the military.
Later on Friday, Heggs announced the firing of two other senior officials: Navy operations director Adm Lisa Franchetti and Air Force General Jim Slife’s deputy chief of staff.
Adm Franchetti was the first woman to lead the U.S. Navy.
All three senior officers were appointed on Friday by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden.
“Under President Trump, we are building new leadership, focusing our military on the core mission of stopping, fighting and winning war,” Hegseth said in a statement.
Trump said he will nominate Air Force Lieutenant Dan Caine, a professional F-16 pilot, who most recently served as deputy director of military affairs at the CIA – chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Last year, at the conservative political action conference, Trump recalled the first meeting in Iraq. “He looks better than any movie actor you can get,” Trump told the audience.
In the same speech, he praised the U.S. military but said it was “wake up.”
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General Brown visited troops on Friday at the southern U.S. border, about two hours before Trump announced his departure.
Rumors are spinning this week, with the president resigning, and the commander is due to expire in 2027.
General Brown made headlines in 2020 when he talked about the game after George Floyd’s death.
He released a video message to the U.S. Air Force describing him as one of the few black men in the unit, including under pressure to question.
In 2022, General Brown jointly signed a memorandum to increase the proportion of minority applicants while adjusting the ratio of lower white candidates to increase the memorandum to increase the proportion of minority officials, According to the Air Force Times.
Colin Powell was the first black chairman to serve in 1989-93.
One of Trump’s first actions after he was sworn in last month was to fire the first female commander of the Coast Guard, citing “over-focus on diversity.”
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Hegseth said in a podcast in November that the military had many problems, including diversity initiatives, that the Trump administration should be “right”.
“First of all, you have to fire the United Chief Chairman,” Heggs said.
The Pentagon also announced on Friday that it would cut budgets. Release 5,400 probation employees next week.
Meanwhile, a federal court in Maryland temporarily blocked Trump from imposing a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
District Court Judge Adam Abelson ruled that Trump’s directives could violate the free voice rights of the U.S. Constitution.
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