US President Joe Biden intends to nominate Air Force General Charles Brown as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, succeeding Army General Mark Milley. Brown will become the second Black officer to occupy this influential role.
US President Joe Biden will nominate Air Force General Charles Brown on Thursday to replace Army General Mark Milley as the country’s top military officer.
Brown would become the second Black officer to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—after Colin Powell from 1989-1993—at a time when the Pentagon was headed by Lloyd Austin, the country’s first Black secretary of defense.
The nomination for Brown to replace Milley —whose term ends in September—will be made at a Rose Garden ceremony, the White House said in a statement.
Brown, who currently serves as chief of staff of the US Air Force and was commissioned as an officer in 1984, is an experienced pilot with over 3,000 flight hours, 130 of them in combat.
He has commanded a fighter squadron, two fighter wings, and US air forces under the Central Command and Indo-Pacific Command.
Following the 2020 murder of Black man George Floyd by a white police officer in Minnesota, Brown recorded an emotional video about his personal experiences, including discrimination in the American military.
“I’m thinking about my Air Force career, where I was often the only African American in my squadron or, as a senior officer, the only African American in the room,” Brown said.
“I’m thinking about the pressure I felt to perform error-free, especially for supervisors I perceive had expected less from me as an African American,” he said.
Brown—known by the initials “CQ”- will still need to be confirmed by the US Senate to replace Milley, who has served as chairman since 2019.
Miroslava Salazar with AFP
