Biden taps ‘butt-kicking’ fighter pilot Gen. CQ Brown for Joint Chiefs chairman
If confirmed, Brown, 60, would replace the often-brash Army Gen. Mark Milley, who has served as Joint Chiefs chairman since October 2019 and is slated to retire in October.
Biden taps ‘butt-kicking’ fighter pilot Gen. CQ Brown for Joint Chiefs chairman
STARS AND STRIPES May 25, 2023
President Joe Biden on Thursday officially nominated Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, the Air Force chief of staff and a career fighter pilot with extensive command experience, as his choice to serve as the nation’s next top military officer.
In a Rose Garden ceremony at the White House, Biden highlighted Brown’s intellect, his experience commanding troops in Europe, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific, and his even-keeled manner as he formally introduced the general as the nominee to become the 21st chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown, who is the first African American to lead a U.S. military service, appeared alongside the president, Vice President Kamala Harris and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the announcement.
“Gen. Brown is a proud butt-kicking American airman — first and always. He’s gained respect across every [military] service from those who have seen him in action and have come to depend on his judgment,” Biden said. “Gen. Brown has built a reputation across the force as an unflappable and highly effective leader — as someone who creates an environment of teamwork, trust and executes with excellence.”
If confirmed, Brown, 60, would replace the often-brash Army Gen. Mark Milley, who has served as Joint Chiefs chairman since October 2019 and is slated to retire in October. He would become the second Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The late Army Gen. Colin Powell was the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, though he never served as Army chief of staff.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the nation’s top military officer charged with advising the president and defense secretary on military and national security issues. . .Brown is a 1984 graduate of Texas Tech University and was commissioned through the school’s ROTC program. He has commanded a fighter squadron, the Air Force Weapons School, two fighter wings, and he has served as an adviser to past top Air Force uniformed and civilian leaders. He also served as the No. 2 general for U.S. Central Command from July 2016 to July 2018, before taking command of U.S. Pacific Air Forces, his last assignment before becoming Air Force chief of staff, according to his biography.
He has a longstanding relationship with Austin, the first Black Pentagon leader, that dates back to Austin’s days in an Army uniform. The former four-star general told reporters Thursday that Brown was a good choice for Joint Chiefs chairman.
President Joe Biden arrives Thursday, May 25, 2023, in the Rose Garden of the White House with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Vice President Kamala Harris and Gen. CQ Brown, Air Force chief of staff, to announce Brown’s nomination to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Evan Vucci/AP)
“He is an incredibly capable and professional officer,” Austin said at the Pentagon ahead of the White House ceremony. “What he brings to the table — to any table — is that professionalism, and that deep experience in war fighting — and I have personal knowledge of that.”
- Brown was easily confirmed to his job leading the Air Force in a 98-0 Senate vote, but he could face some opposition in his next vote after making diversity and equity central issues while leading the service — a topic that has rankled some conservative Republicans in Congress. . .
- Brown’s experience commanding all Air Force troops in the Pacific in recent years will prove critical to his role as chairman as the Pentagon has made countering Chinese military ambitions in the region its top priority.
- As Air Force chief of staff, Brown also has been instrumental in efforts to train and supply Ukrainian forces in their fight against Russian invaders. . .Brown, when he was sworn in as Air Force chief of staff in 2020, said he never intended to make the service a career, and he could have never foreseen rising so high in the military.
He almost didn’t join the military, he said. Brown was set to quit the ROTC program at Texas Tech after just one semester, but his father, a retired Army colonel who served in Vietnam, talked him into staying in the program. Even after commissioning into the service in 1994, Brown said he only planned to serve four years. . ."
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