Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, appointed during the Trump administration, took office in 2019 and is about to reach his maximum term and will leave office in October this year. As the top general of the US military, the change of chairman and successor of the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has attracted much attention.
According to the Associated Press local time on May 24, US President Biden will announce on the 25th that Charles Quinton Brown Jr., a four-star general of the US Air Force and chief of staff of the Air Force, will serve as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
As a professional F-16 fighter pilot, Brown has rich work experience in the Pacific region, "once led the United States' air strategy against China in the 'Indo-Pacific region'" and "has a deep understanding of China", and his promotion comes at a time of heightened tensions between China and the United States. The U.S. military wants to rapidly build up its capabilities in response to China's military rise in cyberwarfare, space, nuclear weapons, and hypersonics, areas where Brown has been paying close attention to developments over the years.
Screenshot of the Associated Press report
The Associated Press said that Biden plans to announce the nomination of Brown for the post of chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff at an event in the White House Rose Garden on the afternoon of May 25, local time.
The report described the "long-awaited" personnel arrangement, if approved by the US Senate, "extremely historic." That would mean that for the first time, the Pentagon's top military position (chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and civilian positions (defense ministers) would be held by African-Americans, and Brown, known as "CQ," would become the second black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after the late Army Gen. Colin Powell.
A senior U.S. administration official said Biden saw Brown as a good fit for the position because of his work on modernizing the U.S. Air Force and nuclear arsenal, as well as his years of experience in "building U.S. defenses in response to China's rise." After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Brown was also deeply involved in the Pentagon's work to provide Ukraine with billions of dollars in US military weapons and equipment.
In addition, Brown, 60, has commanded at all levels of the U.S. Air Force and Combined Command, including in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Previously, he also helped and led the US airstrikes against the extremist group "Islamic State" (ISIS).
Brown is a professional F-16 fighter pilot with more than 3,000 hours of flight time and command experience at all levels. The Associated Press said Brown "broke down barriers" in his career, serving as the first black Pacific Air Force commander of the U.S. military and leading the U.S. air strategy against China in the "Indo-Pacific."
Three years ago, Brown became the military's first black Air Force chief of staff, and over the past year, as the Pentagon shifted from preparing for traditional land wars to "containing potential future conflict with China," Brown has been widely seen as a favorite to succeed Milley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Data map: Current U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin and Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Milley
The choice to make Brown chairman of the JCS is also largely due to the U.S. military's desire to quickly accumulate capabilities to counter China's military rise in cyberwarfare, space, nuclear weapons and hypersonics. As the top military leader of the U.S. Air Force, Brown has focused heavily on these areas for the past few years, hoping to modernize U.S. air power for the battles of the 21st century.
As the current chief of staff of the Air Force, Brown has pushed to modernize U.S. nuclear capabilities, including the imminent commissioning of next-generation stealth bombers and the obsolescence of aging aircraft to free up funds for a new drone fleet. In addition, he strongly supported the development of the US Space Force.
In an interview with US media last November, Brown claimed that if the US military is to be ahead of China and Russia, it must change. "The threats we have faced are not the threats we will face in the future, and that's why we have to change," he said at the time. ”
On February 13, Brown also addressed the Taiwan Strait issue while attending a symposium at the Brookings Institution, a U.S. think tank, on the Air Force and U.S. National Defense Strategy.
He said at the time that he did not think a conflict in the Taiwan Strait was an "imminent or inevitable thing," and he was disappointed by some speculations and comments that the so-called "PLA may attack Taiwan by force", because this would make the US military have to be prepared for a possible conflict at all times, causing the US Air Force to lose attention to the goals and things it really wants to do and should do.
Infographic: U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Brown Jr
The outside world expects that the nomination for Brown is more likely to be passed in the US Congress, and he also has a certain degree of support in the US military. In 2020, the then U.S. Senate passed Brown's nomination for the Air Force chief of staff by a 98-0 result.
In the 2022 US midterm elections, although the Democratic Party lost the dominance of the House of Representatives, it retained the majority of the Senate seats, and it was mainly the Senate Armed Services Committee that considered this nomination, and the Senate with the Democratic Party's dominant advantage is unlikely to veto Biden's nomination.
Of course, there is also resistance from Republicans, including Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who has been fiercely opposed to the nomination, mainly because of his opposition to a Pentagon policy. The policy provides travel funding for military personnel and their families and supports their access to a range of reproductive health services, including abortion, in states where abortion is now prohibited.
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