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Monday, April 17, 2023 9:55:09 PM
Joint Chiefs shuffle: Biden’s top contenders to replace Trump’s military leaders
Besides the chair, the Pentagon could also see new leaders for the Army, Navy, Marines and possibly the Air Force this year.
An illustration featuring President Joe Biden and the potential members of his Joint Chiefs of Staff. | POLITICO illustration/Photos by AP, Getty Images, U.S. military
By LARA SELIGMAN and CONNOR O’BRIEN
04/17/2023 06:30 PM EDT
Donald Trump handpicked the nation’s top military brass while he was in office. Now it’s Joe Biden’s turn.
As many as five members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the eight most senior uniformed leaders who advise the president on military issues, are scheduled to leave their assignments this year. Besides the Joint Chiefs chair, the heads of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and potentially the Air Force are all set to leave. Three of the military’s top operational commanders are changing over as well: The heads of Northern Command, Space Command and Cyber Command.
The vacancies give President Biden a chance to put his stamp on the Joint Chiefs as the administration looks to take big steps to counter Chinese aggression in the Pacific, chart a new course in Europe after the Ukraine invasion and dump old weapons systems to make room for new ones.
“These are legacy moments for the Biden administration, but they are also the guard rails for the republic,” Peter Feaver, a former staffer on the National Security Council and author of “Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and Civil-Military Relations.”
It’s also an opportunity for Biden, who named the first Black defense secretary in 2021, to make more historic appointments, including the first female member of the Joint Chiefs. Last year, Biden chose Adm. Linda Fagan to be the first female commandant of the Coast Guard, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security.
POLITICO spoke to 11 current and former Defense Department officials, as well as leaders in academia with knowledge of the discussions to forecast who’s in the running for the jobs.
Some were granted anonymity to discuss the subject ahead of the announcements.
Here are the names at the top of the list:
Chair
CURRENT LEADER: ARMY GEN. MARK MILLEY, SWORN IN OCT. 1, 2019
The frontrunner: Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown
If you ask most people at DoD, the shoo-in for the top job is Gen. C.Q. Brown, the Air Force chief of staff. Brown, a fighter pilot by training, has stellar credentials, serving as commander of the service’s forces both in the Middle East and in the Pacific. He is also the first Black man to serve as Air Force chief of staff, and was nominated for the job the same summer as the Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation.
Brown is not known for making news, and typically sticks closely to the talking points during public appearances and press engagements. But in a rare candid moment, he weighed in on the racial unrest roiling the country in an emotional video describing his experience navigating the issue in the military. ..
Tapping Brown for the top job would mean plucking him from his current post before his term is up. He was sworn in Aug. 6, 2020, and has another year left as the Air Force’s top officer.
[...]
FOR COMPLETE LIST GO TO;
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/17/joints-chiefs-lorem-ipsum-lorem-ipsum-00092130
Besides the chair, the Pentagon could also see new leaders for the Army, Navy, Marines and possibly the Air Force this year.
An illustration featuring President Joe Biden and the potential members of his Joint Chiefs of Staff. | POLITICO illustration/Photos by AP, Getty Images, U.S. military
By LARA SELIGMAN and CONNOR O’BRIEN
04/17/2023 06:30 PM EDT
Donald Trump handpicked the nation’s top military brass while he was in office. Now it’s Joe Biden’s turn.
As many as five members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the eight most senior uniformed leaders who advise the president on military issues, are scheduled to leave their assignments this year. Besides the Joint Chiefs chair, the heads of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and potentially the Air Force are all set to leave. Three of the military’s top operational commanders are changing over as well: The heads of Northern Command, Space Command and Cyber Command.
The vacancies give President Biden a chance to put his stamp on the Joint Chiefs as the administration looks to take big steps to counter Chinese aggression in the Pacific, chart a new course in Europe after the Ukraine invasion and dump old weapons systems to make room for new ones.
“These are legacy moments for the Biden administration, but they are also the guard rails for the republic,” Peter Feaver, a former staffer on the National Security Council and author of “Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and Civil-Military Relations.”
It’s also an opportunity for Biden, who named the first Black defense secretary in 2021, to make more historic appointments, including the first female member of the Joint Chiefs. Last year, Biden chose Adm. Linda Fagan to be the first female commandant of the Coast Guard, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security.
POLITICO spoke to 11 current and former Defense Department officials, as well as leaders in academia with knowledge of the discussions to forecast who’s in the running for the jobs.
Some were granted anonymity to discuss the subject ahead of the announcements.
Here are the names at the top of the list:
Chair
CURRENT LEADER: ARMY GEN. MARK MILLEY, SWORN IN OCT. 1, 2019
The frontrunner: Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown
If you ask most people at DoD, the shoo-in for the top job is Gen. C.Q. Brown, the Air Force chief of staff. Brown, a fighter pilot by training, has stellar credentials, serving as commander of the service’s forces both in the Middle East and in the Pacific. He is also the first Black man to serve as Air Force chief of staff, and was nominated for the job the same summer as the Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation.
Brown is not known for making news, and typically sticks closely to the talking points during public appearances and press engagements. But in a rare candid moment, he weighed in on the racial unrest roiling the country in an emotional video describing his experience navigating the issue in the military. ..
Tapping Brown for the top job would mean plucking him from his current post before his term is up. He was sworn in Aug. 6, 2020, and has another year left as the Air Force’s top officer.
[...]
FOR COMPLETE LIST GO TO;
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/17/joints-chiefs-lorem-ipsum-lorem-ipsum-00092130
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