WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Donald Trump fired top American military officer General Charles “CQ” Brown on Friday, part of a major shakeup of the armed forces’ leadership.

Trump offered no explanation for Brown’s dismissal less than two years into his four-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which followed sweeping layoffs of federal workers and moves to dismantle government institutions just a month into the president’s second term.

Brown had been nominated to the top military role by Democratic president Joe Biden and became only the second Black person to hold the position.

Following Trump’s announcement on Brown, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was seeking a replacement for Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as the top US Navy officer.

Trump thanked Brown for “his over 40 years of service to our country” in a post on his Truth Social platform, describing him as “a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader.”

Brown has commanded a fighter squadron and two fighter wings, as well as US air forces under the Central Command and Indo-Pacific Command. He had served as Joint Chiefs chairman since October 2023.

Following the 2020 murder of a Black man, George Floyd, by a white police officer in Minnesota, Brown — an experienced fighter pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours, 130 of them in combat — recorded an........

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