Rhode Island’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Jack Reed blasted President Donald Trump’s firing of a number of senior U.S. military officers Friday night, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman CQ Brown Jr. and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, calling the dismissals politically charged.
Brown was the country’s highest-ranking military officer and principal military advisor to the president, secretary of defense, and National Security Council. Brown was the second Black person to serve as Joint Chiefs chairman. Army Gen. Colin Powell held the role from 1989 to 1993.
Franchetti, the first woman named the Navy’s highest-ranking officer, visited the commands at Naval Station Newport this week, including delivering remarks at the Surface Warfare Schools Command department head graduation on Wednesday. Part of her visit included highlighting improving the recruiting and retention of talent in the Navy. She also was in Maine Tuesday, touring General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Bath and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery.
Other top brass include U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Slife and all Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
“I am troubled by the nature of these dismissals,” said Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “This appears to be part of a broader, premeditated campaign by President Trump and Secretary (Pete) Hegseth to purge talented officers for politically charged reasons, which would undermine the professionalism of our military and send a chilling message through the ranks.”
Reed saluted Brown, Franchetti and Slife and their fellow officers for their service and said the nation owes them a debt of gratitude.
“America has the strongest, most capable military in the world,” Reed said. “But firing uniformed leaders as a type of political loyalty test, or for reasons relating to diversity and gender that have nothing to do with performance, erodes the trust and professionalism that our service members require to achieve their missions.
“A professional, apolitical military that is subordinate to the civilian government and supportive of the Constitution rather than a political party is essential to the survival of our democracy. For the sake of our troops and the well-being of every American, elected leaders—especially Senate Republicans—must defend that enduring principle against corrosive attempts to remake the military into a partisan force.”
Trump announced in a Truth Social post he intended to nominate U.S. Air Force Lt. General Dan “Razin” Caine for the position of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Hegseth announced he has requested nominations for the positions of Chief of Naval Operations and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff as well as the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
