President Donald Trump’s new Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, bristled at a question from a reporter about the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s lack of experience on Monday, according to a video posted on X by CSPAN.
“Why did you select an underqualified retired lieutenant general to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?” the journalist asked regarding Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Dan “Razin” Caine, who has not held any of the prerequisite jobs required for someone to be appointed to the position.
“I’m going to choose to reject your unqualified question,” Hegseth responded.
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The questioning took place during a meeting with Saudi Defense Minister Khalid Bin Salman and his delegation at the Pentagon.
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Dan “Razin” Caine replaced CQ Brown, whom Trump fired, last week. Brown, a four-star general fighter pilot and Biden nominee, was the second African American to hold the position. He had held the role since 2023. Caine is a retired three-star general as well as a fighter pilot and venture capitalist who has worked for the CIA.
Caine’s selection came as a surprise for many people in Washington. NPR reported, “Caine was an unusual choice for the top military job and is not well known. Several officials on Capitol Hill and the Pentagon, granted anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told NPR they had to Google his name.”
Nominees are legally required to serve as Joint Chiefs vice chairman, chief of staff for one of the branches of the armed service, or head of a combatant command before they can be nominated as chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Caine has not held any of these roles. The president is allowed to disregard there requirements if he “determines such action is necessary in the national interest,” according to NPR.
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Hegseth told Fox News on Sunday that Brown was “not the right man for the moment.”
“The president respects leaders who untie the hands of warfighters in a very dangerous world,” he said. “I think Dan Caine is the man to meet the moment.”
“It’s time for fresh blood, so we’re going to open up those positions to a broader set and a merit-based process to find the best lawyers possible to lead the Army, the Air Force and the Navy,” he added. “There’s nothing about purging, there’s nothing about it illegal.”
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