Gen. C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top admiral, are on the list of general officers provided to Congress this week whom Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could fire or remove from their current jobs, according to two U.S. officials.
Spokesmen for both Brown and Franchetti declined to comment. CNN was first to report their names were on the list for possible removal.
“We are aware of the reports but have nothing to add,” the spokesman for Franchetti told ABC News.
Brown serves as the president’s top military adviser and has been chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since October 2023, his four-year tenure is supposed to end in 2027.
Franchetti has been the chief of naval operations since November 2023.
The president has the authority to remove any general or senior officer from their current position and reassign them, should they refuse a request to resign. Three- and four-star generals or admirals only hold those ranks while in certain senior leadership roles. If forced out of a current role, there might not be another opening available for them, and such relief of authority is generally a career-ender.
Both officers had been criticized by Hegseth prior to his becoming defense secretary during the Trump administration.
“First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” Hegseth said in a November appearance on the “Shawn Ryan Show.”
“But any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI woke s— has got to go,” he continued. “Either you’re in for warfighting, and that’s it. That’s the only litmus test we care about.”
Hegseth went after Franchetti in his book, “The War on Warriors,” criticizing her for lack of combat experience and mocking her master’s degree from the University of Phoenix online college.
“If naval operations suffers, at least we can hold our heads high. Because at least we have another first! The first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — hooray. For social justice ideologues, PR matters more than reality,” he wrote.
Hegseth also criticized Brown several times in the book.
“The military standards, once the hallmark for competency, professionalism, and ‘mission first’ outcomes, have officially been subsumed by woke priorities,” he wrote. “You think C.Q. Brown will think intuitively about external threats and internal readiness? No chance. He built his generalship dutifully pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians, who in turn rewarded him with promotions.”
Also in his book, Hegseth cast doubt as to whether Brown merited his promotion to be America’s top general.
“We’ll never know, but always doubt — which on its face seems unfair to C.Q.,” he wrote. “But since he has made the race card one of his biggest calling cards, it really doesn’t much matter.”
Brown was nominated under the first Trump administration in early 2020 to become the first Black Air Force chief of staff. While awaiting Senate confirmation for that job, Brown began to share his thoughts on racial injustice in the military after George Floyd’s death sparked nationwide protests. As the top Air Force general in the Pacific, Brown put out a video where he described racial incidents he had experienced.
Brown has also been vocal about what he sees as the importance of race-based diversity in the military. In 2022, while chief of staff of the Air Force, Brown signed a memo calling for the service to work toward lowering the percentage of white officer applicants while raising those of other races.
When asked by ABC News’ Martha Raddatz in January 2024 whether how important diversity, equity and inclusion is to the military, Brown said, “Depending where you grew up, when you come into our military, this may be the most diverse experience you’ve ever had.”
“In order for us to be leaders, we need to know the backgrounds and understand some things about those we’re privileged to lead,” he added. “And that’s the value of some of our programs. So, we get a chance to know a little bit more about their, you know, culture, history, experiences and building that personal connection.”
At his confirmation hearing in January, Hegseth danced around a question about whether he would fire Brown when asked by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., if Brown might be on a list of senior officers to be removed from their jobs, saying, “Senator, every single senior officer will be reviewed based on meritocracy standards, lethality and commitment to lawful orders they will be given.”
But there were some positive signs for Brown beginning last December, when he had an amiable encounter with Trump at the Army-Navy football game. Hegseth met Brown briefly at the Army-Navy game, where Brown and then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met for 20 minutes during the second quarter of the game and talked about football.
Then on Jan. 27, on Hegseth’s first day arriving at the Pentagon as secretary, he seemed to give another sign of softening his position in regard to the general.
Brown saluted Hegseth as his motorcade arrived, then shook his hand as the two exchanged pleasantries. With Brown by his side, Hegseth approached a line of waiting reporters and took several questions, including one on whether he intended to fire the general.
“I’m standing with him right now,” Hegseth said, patting Brown on the shoulder. “I look forward to working with him.”
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