Trump Nominates Dan ‘Razin’ Caine to be Joint Chiefs Chairman > U.S. Department of Defense > Defense Department News

President Donald J. Trump announced the nomination of Dan “Razin” Caine for the position of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Feb. 21, 2025.  

 

The chairman is the nation’s highest-ranking military officer and the principal military advisor to the president, defense secretary and National Security Council. Caine, a retired Air Force lieutenant general, will require Senate confirmation before taking on the role.   

“General Caine embodies the warfighter ethos and is exactly the leader we need to meet the moment. I look forward to working with him,” said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a Feb. 21, 2025, statement. 

“The outgoing chairman, Air Force Gen. Charles CQ Brown, Jr., has served with distinction in a career spanning four decades of honorable service. I have come to know him as a thoughtful advisor and salute him for his distinguished service to our country,” Hegseth said. 

“Under President [Donald J.] Trump, we are putting in place new leadership that will focus our military on its core mission of deterring, fighting and winning wars,” he said. 

Caine was commissioned in 1990 and served in a variety of assignments before retiring last year. His assignments included: 

• Commander, Joint Special Operations Task Force – Air Directorate, Balad, Iraq, 2008.
• Assistant commanding general, Joint Special Operations Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 2016-2018.
• Deputy commanding general, Special Operations Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, Iraq, 2018-2019.
• Associate director for military affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency, 2021.

Caine has flown more than 100 combat hours in F-16 aircraft. His total flight hours are 2,800.

His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.