Trump Purges Military Leadership Amid Looming Plans For Deep Pentagon Reform

U.S. President Donald Trump on February 21  fired Air Force General Charles Q. Brown Jr. as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), announcing his intention to nominate retired Air Force Lieutenant General John Caine as his replacement. “General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a ‘warfighter’ with significant interagency and special operations experience,” Trump wrote regarding his decision. The choice was considered unusual since Caine has not served as either Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chief of Staff of the Army, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, or the Chief of Space Operations, or the commander of a unified or specified combatant command, which would usually exclude him from being selected to chair the JCS. As part of what has been referred to as a wider leadership purge, it was confirmed that Air Force Vice Chief of Staff James Slife, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti, and the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, were all set to be replaced. Further replacements of figures in the leadership are expected, with reports indicating that deep reform in the Pentagon is being planned aimed at increasing efficiency and reducing bureaucracy.