WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced late Friday they are replacing several senior military officials that the Trump administration has linked to Biden-era diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Among those targeted in the purge of military brass was Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s most senior military officer.

Trump announced he is nominating Air Force Lieutenant Gen. Dan Caine to replace Brown as Joint Chiefs chairman.

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“I want to thank General Charles “CQ” Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Trump posted on social media. “He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family.

Gen. Charles Q. Brown testified before Senate Armed Services on his nomination to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Department of Defense. Gen. Brown had been the Chief of Staff of the Air Force since 2020.© Jack Gruber, Jack Gruber / USA TODAY NETWORK

Hegseth then announced that he is replacing Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Slife.

“We thank them for their service and dedication to our country,” Hegseth said in a statement.

Hegseth also indicated he is replacing the judge advocates general of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said Friday that the military shakeup is troubling.

“This appears to be part of a broader, premediated campaign by President Trump and Secretary Hegseth to purge talented officers for politically charged reasons, which would undermine the professionalism of our military and send a chilling message through the ranks,” Reed said in a statement.

Brown, who is Black, is a fighter pilot appointed to his post by former President Joe Biden. He has been outspoken about the challenges he faced in his career and about the need for racial reconciliation after the police murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Brown had no immediate comment, according to his spokesman, Navy Capt. Jereal Dorsey.Hegseth foreshadowed the change at his first town hall meeting with Pentagon staff. The session began with remarks from Hegseth in which he disparaged DEI and promised accountability for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021. A broadcast of the event was cut shortly after the audience, which included troops and civilians, began asking him questions.

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©POOL photo by JOHANNA GERON/AFP via Getty Images

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and British Defence Secretary John Healey react as they meet, on the eve of a NATO defence ministers’ meeting at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, on February 12, 2025. New US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth arrives for his first meetings at NATO headquarters on February 12 looking to push European nations over support for Ukraine and ramping up military spending. Washington’s allies are waiting nervously for clarity from President Donald Trump’s administration after the volatile leader demanded NATO more than double its spending target and vowed to end the war in Ukraine.

Hegseth, who was confirmed by the Senate after Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie, has described himself as a change agent who wanted to rid the Pentagon of “woke” policies he said have made the military less ready to fight.

At the town hall, he reiterated previous statements about DEI efforts, saying they have divided the military rather than uniting it.

“I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is our diversity is our strength,” Hegseth said. “I think our strength is our unity. I think our strength is our shared history.”

More: Hegseth nixes ‘identity month’ celebrations at DOD on eve of Black History Month

Hegseth, in a Jan. 29 memo, directed a task force to identify and eliminate Biden-era diversity programs. The task force’s iniital report is due March 1.

Who were the generals that Trump fired?

Hegseth had previously disparaged Brown and Franchetti, who leads the Navy and is also a Biden appointee to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a podcast Nov. 7, he called for Brown’s firing and in his 2024 book referred to Franchetti as “another inexperienced first.”

Brown and Franchetti had decades of military experience compared with Hegseth’s National Guard service, which included combat tours. Hegseth’s management experience, before leading the 3 million troops and civilians at the Pentagon, included two jobs running veterans service organizations with dozens of employees.

The judge advocates general have overall responsibility for a wide array of legal matters within their respective service; topics range from the military’s court-martial system to determinations about permissible use of force by troops, whether deployed domestically or overseas.

Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Berger III took over as the service’s top uniformed attorney in July 2024. The Air Force and Space Force’s head lawyer, Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer, assumed his post in May 2022.

Retired Navy Rear Adm. Christopher French, the last Senate-confirmed Judge Advocate General of the Navy, abruptly stepped down in December mere months after taking the job. The role currently is filled on an acting basis by Rear Adm. Lia Reynolds.

In his January confirmation hearing, Hegseth clashed with Reed over disparaging comments the now-defense secretary made about military lawyers in his 2024 book, “The War on Warriors.” In the book, Hegseth derided uniformed lawyers who he argued imposed overly restrictive rules of engagement intended to prevent U.S. troops from killing civilians.

Who is Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine?

Caine is an Air National Guard officer who retired Dec. 31 as the CIA’s associate director and top military officer. He did not immediately respond to an inquiry from USA TODAY.

Trump, in his post, praised Caine’s “instrumental” role in defeating ISIS while serving in special operations leadership roles. He is an F-16 fighter pilot with callsign “Razin,” as Trump called him.

In addition to his extensive experience in special operations, Caine’s career has included stints in the White House, where he led counterterrorism strategy for the Homeland Security Council. He also developed the U.S. military’s plan to counter Iraq’s Scud ballistic missiles during the 2003 invasion; Saddam Hussein’s forces did not manage to fire a single Scud during the war.

Caine, a Virginia Military Institute alum, also took to the skies in his F-16 on Sept. 11, 2001, commanding the air defense of Washington D.C. – he was prepared to shoot down any further hijacked aircraft.

“I remember telling the wingman that I was going to fly with that day, ‘Don’t shoot anybody. I’ll make the decision,’” Caine recalled in a 2023 interview. “If we got it wrong, or if we missed somebody and we did not shoot, the consequences of that could be catastrophic.”

For a period in his career, Caine reverted to part-time National Guard service and worked as a national security entrepreneur and investor. He briefly returned to venture capital in the weeks following his retirement.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said that with his “Friday Night massacre” Trump had “has chosen—yet again—fealty over proven ability to do the job and loyalty to the Constitution.”