President Donald Trump’s choice to be the top U.S. military officer, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, endeared himself to the commander in chief through his military call sign, “Razin,” during a meeting in Iraq years ago. Officials who have served with Caine described him Saturday as measured and apolitical.
Trump said Friday night that Caine was his pick as the next Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, making the announcement in the same social media post in which he fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., who had held that job for 16 months after a career as a history-making fighter pilot.
Brown’s ouster — followed soon by that of other military leaders — came as Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are pushing out officers who have supported diversity, equity and inclusion in the ranks. The new Republican administration says it is focused on a lethal fighting force.
Caine retired in December. It was not immediately clear what it would take to recall him to active-duty service so he could go through Senate confirmation.
Caine does not meet the position’s prerequisites, such as being a combatant commander or service chief, as laid out in a 1986 law that does allow a president to waive those requirements.
“I know he’s nontraditional, but that’s kind of what this administration looks for,” said Chris Miller, who served as Trump’s last acting secretary of defense in his first term.
Caine “definitely knows how the Pentagon works,” Miller told The Associated Press. Caine has experience, too, in the National Guard and has worked in the private sector.
“He’s spent time as a citizen-soldier. The guy’s been out, done other things. He brings a perspective that is not traditional for a chairman, which I think will be a breath of fresh air,” Miller said.
Trump’s relationship with Caine dates to his first administration. They met during a trip to Iraq, as Trump recounted during a 2019 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, where he spoke again on Saturday.
Trump said he asked Caine why it would take two more years to end the fight against the Islamic State group. Caine told him it could be as little as a week, if he did it his way.
“‘We’re only hitting them from a temporary base in Syria,'” Trump said Caine told him. ‘”But if you gave us permission, we could hit them from the back, from the side, from all over — from the base that you’re right on, right now, sir. They won’t know what the hell hit them.'”
A question after Brown’s firing was whether Trump was seeking a loyalist as chairman of the Joint Chiefs chairman. Trump praised Caine — and condemned the current military leadership — at an unrelated appearance in Miami this past week.
“General ‘Razin’ Caine was — he’s some general. He’s a real general, not a television general,” Trump said Wednesday, two days before his Truth Social post.
“We have the greatest military in the world, but we don’t have the greatest top, top leadership. That’s why Afghanistan was such a horrible situation and so embarrassing and so many other things,” Trump added. “But when we want to, with proper leadership, there’s nobody even close to us.”
Trump has previously suggested that Caine is a political supporter. In a CPAC speech last year, Trump recalled meeting Caine in 2018 in Iraq when he was visiting troops.
“He said, ‘I’ll kill for you sir,” Trump said. “Then he puts on a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat.”
But Caine has been steadfastly apolitical, a military officer who had served with him and remains close to him said Saturday.
“Gen. Caine doesn’t have a MAGA hat. He’s never put one on,” said the official, who was not authorized to talk to the media on the record and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Miller, the former acting defense secretary, served at the Pentagon when Caine led the military’s Special Access Program Central Office, which oversees what classified information on weapons programs is shared with foreign governments.
That position “is one of the most difficult places to work in the whole department because of all of the congressional interest. You have to be really, really adept to handle all of the constituencies,” Miller said.
Caine, like Brown, flew F-16 fighter jets. Last month, Caine completed an assignment for the CIA, and during an in-depth Jan. 27 episode of “The Afterburn Podcast” spoke at length about his life and career.
“I grew up as the son of a fighter pilot. This was our family business,” he said. Both he and his father, who started his military career flying F-4 Phantoms, ultimately flew the F-16.
In the podcast, Caine had a message for young people looking to serve, or those already flying: “Cherish it,” Caine said.
“And remember that while flying airplanes in the military at least is epically cool, it’s about something deeper,” he said. “It’s about serving our country. It’s about being willing to protect and defend this nation.”
