World
Air Force fighter pilot tapped by Biden to be next Joint Chiefs chairman has history of firsts
The Air Force fighter pilot about to be nominated as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff got his callsign by ejecting from a burning F-16 fighter jet high above the Florida Everglades and falling into the watery sludge below.
It was January 1991, and then-Capt. CQ Brown Jr. had just enough time in his parachute above alligator-full wetlands for a thought to pop into his head. “Hope there’s nothing down there,” Brown said in an interview at the Aspen Security Forum last year.
He landed in the muck, which coated his body and got “in his boots and everything.” Which is how the nominee to be the country’s next top military officer got his callsign: “Swamp Thing.”
Brown, now a four-star general and the Air Force chief, will be nominated by President Joe Biden on Thursday. If confirmed, Brown would replace Army Gen. Mark Milley, whose term ends in October. Biden is scheduled to unveil Brown as his pick during a Rose Garden event on Thursday afternoon.
The callsign reveal was a rare inner look into Brown, who keeps his cards close to his chest. He’s spent much of his career being one of the Air Force’s top aviators, one of its few Black pilots and often one of the only African Americans in his squadron.
To this day, his core tenets are to “execute at a high standard, personally and professionally,” Brown said this month at an Air Force Association conference in Colorado. “I do not play for second place. If I’m in, I’m in to win — I do not play to lose.”
He’s been many firsts, including the Air Force’s first Black commander of the Pacific Air Forces, and most recently its first Black chief of staff, making him the first African American to lead any of the military branches.
If confirmed, he would be part of another first — the first time the Pentagon’s top two posts were held by African Americans, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin the top civilian leader. Brown would not be the first African American to be chairman, the Pentagon’s top military post; that distinction went to the late Army Gen. Colin Powell.
Brown, 60, has commanded the nation’s air power at all levels. Born in San Antonio, he is from a family of Army soldiers. His grandfather led a segregated Army unit in World War II and his father was an artillery officer and Vietnam War veteran. Brown grew up on several military bases and states, which helped instill in him a sense of mission.
His nomination caps a four-decade military career that spans his commission as a distinguished ROTC graduate from Texas Tech University in 1984 to his White House nomination this week. He was widely viewed within military circles as the frontrunner for the chairmanship, with the right commands and a track record of driving institutional change, attributes seen as needed to push the Pentagon onto a more modern footing to meet China’s rise.
For the past two years Brown has pressed “Accelerate, Change or Lose” within the Air Force. The campaign very much has China in mind, pushing the service to shed legacy warplanes and speed its efforts to counter hypersonics, drones and space weapons, where the military’s lingering Cold War-era inventory does not match up.
In person, Brown is private, thoughtful and deliberate. He is seen as a contrast to Milley, who has remained outspoken throughout his tenure, often to the ire of former President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers.
“He’s not prone to blurt out something without some serious thought in his own mind, some serious kind of balancing of the opportunities or options,” said retired Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley, who knows Brown from when Brown worked for him as a member of the Air Staff.
Brown has more than 3,000 flying hours and repeat assignments to the Air Force Weapons School — an elite aerial fighting school similar to the Navy’s TOPGUN. Only about 1% of Air Force fighter pilots are accepted, Moseley said.
When Brown had to eject from the burning F-16 in 1991, after the fuel tank broke off mid-flight, he said the timing couldn’t have been worse.
“I was a bit frustrated because it happened just before the selection for weapons school,” he said at the Aspen forum. He said he had to apply three times before he got in, noting that it’s “pretty competitive.”
But he rose to the top there, too, earning a spot as an instructor, “which is like 1% of the 1%,” Moseley said.
Brown returned to the weapons school as its commandant. By then it had expanded from fighter-only exclusivity to teaching combined airpower operations, with tankers, bombers and cargo planes.
Brown saw that the school “required a different approach and attitude,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Bill Rew. Earlier commandants had tried to institute a new mantra, “Humble, Approachable, Credible,” but it had not taken root.
Under Brown the cultural shift took hold and remains in place today, said Rew, who was one of Brown’s instructors at the weapons school and wing commander during Brown’s time as commandant.
“It takes a certain kind of leadership, that doesn’t force cultural change on people but explains it and motivates them on why that change is important,” Rew said.
In June 2020, Brown was just a week from being confirmed by the Senate to serve as chief of staff of the Air Force when he felt the need to speak out on George Floyd’s murder.
It was risky and inopportune time for the general to draw public attention and pull back the curtain on his private thoughts. But he did so anyway, after discussions with his wife and sons about the murder, which convinced him he needed to say something.
In a June 2020 video message to the service titled “Here’s What I’m Thinking About,” Brown described how he’d pressured himself “to perform error-free” as a pilot and officer his whole life, but still faced bias. He said he’d been questioned about his credentials, even when he wore the same flight suit and wings as every other pilot.
It’s been 30 years since Powell became the first Black chairman, serving from 1989 to 1993. But while African Americans make up 17.2% of the 1.3 million active-duty service members, only 9% of officers are Black, according to a 2021 Defense Department report.
“I’m thinking about my mentors and how I rarely had a mentor that looked like me,” Brown said in the video.
“I’m thinking about how my nomination provides some hope, but also comes with a heavy burden — I can’t fix centuries of racism in our country, nor can I fix decades of discrimination that may have impacted members of our Air Force.
“I’m thinking about how I can make improvements, personally, professionally and institutionally,” so all airmen could excel.
His decision to speak out did not cost him. His Senate confirmation vote was 98-0.
But like the brief moment in Aspen, the personal video message was a rarity. After confirmation, he lowered his public profile again, and got to work.
Gunfire and explosions rocked the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, an AFP journalist reported, as the Israeli military kept up a large-scale raid for a second day.
The operation, launched just days after a ceasefire paused more than a year of fighting in Gaza, has left at least 10 Palestinians dead, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Israeli officials have said the raid is part of a broader campaign against militants in the West Bank, citing thousands of attack attempts since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.
“The situation is very difficult,” Jenin governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told AFP.
“The occupation army has bulldozed all the roads leading to Jenin camp and to the Jenin government hospital… There is shooting and explosions,” he added, referring to the Israeli military.
Israeli forces have detained around 20 people from villages around Jenin since the operation began on Tuesday, the official said.
An AFP correspondent reported hearing gunfire and explosions from the northern city’s refugee camp, a hotbed of militancy where Israeli forces have carried out repeated raids.
In December, Jenin area militants also clashed with the security forces of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.
‘IRON WALL’
The Israeli military said it was continuing with the operation, dubbed “Iron Wall”, adding that it had “neutralised over 10 terrorists”.
“Additionally, aerial strikes on terror infrastructure sites were conducted and numerous explosives planted on the routes by the terrorists were dismantled,” it said in a statement.
The raid in Jenin aims to counter “hundreds of terrorist attacks, both in Judea and Samaria (the occupied West Bank) and the rest of Israel,” military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said at a press briefing.
He said that since the start of the Gaza war, Israel had seen “over 2,000 terror attack attempts” from the West Bank, adding that the army had “eliminated around 800 terrorists”.
Shoshani said the explosive devices planted along roads had recently killed a soldier in the area.
Islamic Jihad, one of the factions present in Jenin, condemned what it called “the systematic displacement, destruction and killing carried out by the occupation army against Jenin refugee camp”.
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry accused Israel of “collective punishment” and said the raid was part of an Israeli plan aimed at “gradually annexing the occupied West Bank”.
‘DECISIVE OPERATION’
Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to continue the raid in Jenin.
“It is a decisive operation aimed at eliminating terrorists in the camp,” Katz said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the military would not allow a “terror front” to be established there.
“It is a key lesson learnt from Gaza… we do not want terrorism to recur in the camp once the operation ends,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the raid aimed to “eradicate terrorism” in Jenin.
He linked the operation to a broader strategy of countering Iran “wherever it sends its arms — in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen” and the West Bank.
The Israeli government has accused Iran, which supports armed groups across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, of attempting to funnel weapons and funds to militants in the West Bank.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “maximum restraint” from Israeli security forces and expressed deep concern, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.
Violence has surged throughout the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war erupted on October 7, 2023.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 848 Palestinians in the West Bank since the conflict began.
During the same period, at least 29 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations in the territory, according to Israeli official figures.
Saudi Arabia Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman told President Donald Trump that the kingdom wants to put $600 billion into expanded investment and trade with the United States over the next four years, the Saudi State news agency said early on Thursday.
The crown prince expressed it during a phone call with Trump, who took oath for his second term on January 20.
During the call, the crown prince conveyed the congratulations of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his own congratulations to the President on the occasion of his inauguration, and wished the friendly American people more progress and prosperity under the President’s leadership.
The two leaders discussed ways for cooperation between the Kingdom and the US to promote peace, security and stability in the Middle East, in addition to enhancing bilateral cooperation to combat terrorism.
The leaders also discussed ways to enhance bilateral ties in various areas, and the crown prince noted the US administration’s ability to create unprecedented economic prosperity and opportunity through anticipated reforms in the United States, and that the Kingdom seeks to participate in these opportunities for partnership and investment.
The US president expressed his appreciation and thanked the Saudi leadership for their congratulations, and affirmed his keenness to work with the Kingdom on all that benefits the interests of both countries.
Trump said following his inauguration on Monday that he would consider making Saudi Arabia his first destination for a foreign visit if Riyadh agreed to buy $500 billion worth of American products, similar to what he did in his first term.
“I did it with Saudi Arabia last time because they agreed to buy $450 billion worth of our product. I said I’ll do it but you have to buy American product, and they agreed to do that,” Trump said, referring to his 2017 visit to the Gulf kingdom.
An executive order by US President Donald Trump to suspend resettlement of all refugees, including Afghans, for an indefinite period is being seen as a betrayal of those who supported the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and NATO in Afghanistan.
Nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared by the US government to resettle in the US, including family members of active-duty US military personnel, are in limbo since the Trump-led administration took extreme decision.
The order has left them stranded while it is expecting from Pakistan, which has hosted millions of Afghans for decades on humanitarian grounds, to share the burden again.
Instead of easing the burden, the US ban has only intensified challenges for Pakistan and other neighbouring host countries.
Furthermore, the western countries, which have been criticising Pakistan for repatriation of illegal immigrants, are refusing to accept refugees by giving lame excuses, abandoning Afghan refugees when they need help the most.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Amnesty International and the EU keep an eye on Pakistan’s policies while there is no focus on the hypocrisy being showed by the Western countries by banning refugees after using them as pawns.
The international community must hold the US and EU accountable for their bans and pressure them to contribute fairly to managing the Afghan refugee crisis.
Trump made an immigration crackdown a major promise of his victorious 2024 election campaign, leaving the fate of US refugee programmes up in the air.
The State Department on Wednesday implemented the order, announcing that all refugee arrivals were indefinitely suspended, all previously scheduled travel cancelled and new refugee applications, as well those in process, were suspended.
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