WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced he has nominated Air Force Gen. CQ Brown to be the subsequent chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a transient ceremony within the White House’s Rose Garden.
“Gen. Brown is a warrior, descended from a proud line of warriors,” Biden said, referencing Brown’s Vietnam veteran father in addition to his grandfather, who led a segregated unit in World War II.
Brown’s command roles within the Indo-Pacific region, the Middle East and Europe give him “an unmatched firsthand knowledge of our operational theaters, and a strategic vision to know how all of them work together to make sure security for the American people,” Biden said, flanked by Brown, Vice President Kamala Harris and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“While Gen. Brown is a proud, butt-kickin’ American airman, first and all the time, he’s also been an operational leader within the joint force,” Biden said. “He gained respect across every service from those that have seen him in motion, and have come to depend upon his judgment. Greater than that, he gained the respect of our allies and partners all over the world, who regard Gen. Brown as a trusted partner and a top-notch strategist.”
If confirmed by the Senate, Brown — who has served because the Air Force’s chief of staff for nearly three years — will succeed Army Gen. Mark Milley because the military’s top uniformed officer.
Milley sat within the front row of the audience on the ceremony, next to Brown’s wife Sharene. Biden, wearing his signature aviator shades, thanked Milley and his family for his or her years of service.
“As chairman, you’ve led our military through essentially the most complex security environment our world has faced in a protracted, very long time,” Biden said. “We’ve strengthened our alliances from NATO to the Indo-Pacific, and built latest partnerships like AUKUS [the trilateral defense agreement between the United States, U.K., and Australia]. … You’ve helped set our country and our military on a course that may put us within the strongest possible position to achieve the years ahead.”
And Biden saluted Sharene Brown for her work to enhance the standard of life for military families as a part of her “Five and Thrive” initiative.
As chairman, Brown would advise the president on military matters, including the potential defense of Taiwan if China invades and NATO’s effort to support Ukraine in its fight to repel Russia’s invasion. He would also commonly seek the advice of with top military leaders across all services to assemble their thoughts on strategy, operations and budgets, so he could present a spread of options to Biden.
The Senate voted unanimously to substantiate Brown’s nomination to change into Air Force chief of staff in June 2020, which made him the primary Black person to go a branch of the U.S. military, and he is anticipated to be easily confirmed because the nation’s top military officer. Nonetheless, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has placed a hold on Defense Department nominations over the department’s decision to offer leave and travel services so troops can obtain abortion services, which could create a stumbling block for Brown’s confirmation.
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During his three years as Air Force chief of staff, Brown has focused on overhauling the service, a plan he dubbed “Speed up Change or Lose,” which has also change into something of a mantra for him. This effort involves reshaping the service’s structure, changing how the service prepares for potential conflicts with major adversaries like China and Russia, and divesting old and outdated air frames just like the A-10 Warthog, E-3 Sentry and older F-15C fighters, which he and other Air Force leaders say could be unsuited for future high-end wars.
Biden singled out Brown’s Speed up Change or Lose strategy as exactly what the military needs.
“General, you’re right on,” Biden said. “To maintain the American people protected, prosperous and secure, we have now to maneuver fast and adapt quickly. We’ve to take care of a combat-credible force able to deterring and defeating any potential threat.”
A retired general officer accustomed to the discussions told Air Force Times Biden strongly considered each Brown and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger for the job, but ultimately selected Brown.
Brown could be the second Black person to function Joint Chiefs chairman, with the primary being Army Gen. Colin Powell under President George H.W. Bush. It will be the primary time within the nation’s history that each the highest civilian and uniformed leaders within the Defense Department are Black, as Austin is the primary Black secretary of defense.
An ‘unflinching’ video
In June 2020, shortly after the death of George Floyd by the hands of Minneapolis police, and days before the Senate voted to substantiate him as chief of staff, Brown made an emotional video by which he spoke about Floyd’s death and his own experiences as a Black person within the military. The video went viral, and observers say Brown’s frank talk helped spark conversations about racism and injustice within the military community.
Biden said that “unflinching” testimonial shows Brown is “unafraid to talk his mind [and] will deliver an honest message that should be heard, and can all the time do the proper thing when it’s hard.”
Biden said the video also showed “his deep love of our country, to which he’s dedicated his entire adult life.”
Republicans praised Brown’s nomination and called on him to stay out of politics should the Senate nominate him for the post.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the highest Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised Brown as an “exceptionally qualified officer” and said he should maintain a “laser give attention to readiness, deterrence and warfighting as an alternative of politics.”
“I actually have also known him to be a thoughtful advocate of accelerating innovation in order that our armed services might be able to defend our country and deter potential threats, especially those from the Chinese Communist Party,” said Wicker.
House defense appropriations Chairman Ken Calvert, R-Calif., said Brown “have to be focused on maintaining our edge within the air, land, sea and space and never be distracted by other issues that don’t ultimately lead to the improved lethality of U.S. forces.”
Calvert praised Brown’s tenure as Air Force chief, noting he understood “we must innovate and equip our warfighters with the subsequent generation of resources to secure our nation” to be able to “surpass the technological advancements of China and other adversaries.”
Ties all over the world
In a Wednesday interview with Defense News, retired Gen. Dave Goldfein — Brown’s predecessor as Air Force chief of staff — said Brown’s skills, honed throughout his nearly 4 many years in uniform, and the bonds he’s created with counterparts the world over might be vital as the US faces multiple challenges.
“In the case of … Ukraine or China or Korea or Iran, otherwise you name the challenges that he’ll face, he has built enough relationships and enough credibility that he can walk into the room and, in his very thoughtful way, provide his military advice and assessment of the risks involved, allowing the president and the senior civilian leadership to make essentially the most informed decisions,” Goldfein said.
Since he first met Brown within the mid-Nineteen Nineties — when Brown was aide-de-camp to then-chief of staff Gen. Ron Fogleman and Goldfein was aide to the commander of Allied Air Forces Southern Europe in Naples, Italy — Brown has all the time been a deep thinker and a quiet consensus builder, Goldfein said. Those traits will serve him well as he advises Biden on the nation’s most pressing military matters.
“He really thinks things through,” Goldfein said. “He’s not normally essentially the most vocal on the table, and he’s actually not the loudest, but he all the time has essentially the most to say. … When he spoke in a gathering, everybody was leaning forward, listening, taking notes.”
Goldfein pointed to the 2019 Pacific Air Chiefs Symposium at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii for example of Brown’s skill in bringing together people from different backgrounds and with different interests to construct common ground.
During that conference, attended by air chiefs from about 18 nations, then-PACAF Commander Brown arrange a series of small panel discussions that brought every attending nation’s air chief to the table. During those talks, Goldfein said, the “chemistry” between Brown and the opposite Pacific nations’ air chiefs was evident.
“What struck me was the relationships that he’d invested in across the region, which were on display during all the conference,” Goldfein said. “It was relationships built on trust, it was relationships built on confidence in one another, it was relationships built on how he valued each of them and their participation and their input. Because he’s such an incredible listener, they knew that he was being attentive to every thing they’d to say.”
Brown’s breadth of experience in among the world’s most important military theaters is unparalleled amongst general officers today, Goldfein said — particularly his time commanding the nation’s air forces within the Pacific and the Middle East, and serving as a senior leader in Europe.
“I don’t know that we’re going to search out an officer who has had more time in joint operations, in every theater, than CQ Brown,” Goldfein said.
The type of relationship-building Brown excelled at throughout the 2019 Pacific conference might be vital in his latest role as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Goldfein said. Brown has already built up a substantial contact list of top leaders all over the world, similar to ambassadors, top defense ministers and heads of state, during his last three years commanding the Air Force, Goldfein said. He predicted that as chairman, Brown will give you the option to quickly form ties with international leaders he doesn’t yet know.
“When there’s a crisis and it’s worthwhile to refer to one in every of your counterparts, that’s the worst time to begin constructing a relationship,” Goldfein said. “You must construct on relationships that you just’ve already invested in. … He’s going to bring relationships — across the very best levels of presidency — with a few of crucial countries we ever must take care of.”
Rachel S. Cohen contributed to this report.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.