President Donald Trump initiates a significant overhaul of U.S. military leadership by firing Air Force General C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a post on Truth Social, Trump nominates retired Lieutenant General Dan "Razin" Caine to succeed Brown. Caine, a former F-16 pilot, previously serves as the associate director of military affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency.
In addition to Brown's dismissal, Trump replaces several other high-ranking military officials, including Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the head of the U.S. Navy, along with the vice chief of staff for the Air Force and the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Simultaneously, the Pentagon announces plans to cut 5,400 jobs as part of Trump's initiative to reduce the federal workforce. This decision follows backlash from Republican lawmakers facing voter discontent over aggressive job cuts. While the latest reductions are smaller than the anticipated 50,000 job losses, they signal a broader trend. Pentagon official Darin Selnick indicates that a hiring freeze will be implemented, potentially shrinking the civilian workforce by 5% to 8%.
These job cuts are part of an extensive overhaul driven by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, who has already laid off over 20,000 workers across various government sectors. Legal challenges regarding these layoffs yield mixed outcomes, with a federal judge recently allowing Trump to place more than 2,000 employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave.