CNN
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president biden to announce on Thursday that he will Nomination of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown He will serve as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to a defense official familiar with the plan.
The official said the decision came after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin suggested that Brown be selected as the next top military officer. If confirmed, it would be the first time in U.S. history that the top leaders of the Department of Defense — the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — are both African-American.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the country’s highest-ranking military officer, serving as the chief military adviser to the U.S. president, secretary of defense and national security council.
Brown, codenamed CQ, will replace Army Gen. Mark Milley, who has held the post since he was nominated in 2019. In 2020, Brown became the first black chief of staff in U.S. military history. He was confirmed as chief of the Air Force by a vote of 98 to 0. Brown will become the second black man to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after Gen. Colin Powell, who served from 1989 to 1993.
Brown, who has always been conservative, made headlines in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. Brown posted a touching and deeply personal video in which he said he was “full of affection” for the “many African-Americans who suffered the same fate as George Floyd.”
Brown, who was commander of Pacific Air Forces at the time, recorded the video while wearing his uniform.
He outlined being one of the only African-Americans in the school, and often the only African-American in his platoon, to become leadership.
“I’m thinking about the pressure I’m feeling to be error-free, especially with what I think is an African-American supervisor who expects me to be lower. I’m thinking about having to demonstrate their expectations of African-Americans and Perceptions are invalid,” he said.
Brown spoke candidly about the problems facing America at the time, and the widespread protests against racial injustice, and he spoke candidly about what he could and couldn’t do in his position.
“I can’t fix the centuries of racism in our country, or the decades of discrimination that can affect members of our Air Force,” Brown said in the video. “I’m thinking about how to do it personally, professionally and institutionally. Improve so that all pilots of today and tomorrow can appreciate the value of diversity and can serve in an environment where they can achieve their full potential.”
However, Brown’s nomination could join more than 200 other senior military nominations currently on hold in the Senate.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, has been holding the top military nominee in protest of the Department of Defense’s reproductive health policy, which, among other things, allows service members and military families who must travel for abortions for state reasons to take leave of absence where they are stationed.
Defense officials, including Austin, have repeatedly said will have a serious impact about national security.
In a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., earlier this month, Austin said control of senior military leaders, such as those who make up the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in particular, would lead the U.S. to “take on the Unnecessary and unprecedented risk” at a time when our adversaries may test our resolve. ”
Brown was commissioned in 1984 for the ROTC program at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.according to his official biographyHe then commanded one fighter squadron, two fighter wings, US Air Force Central Command and the US Air Force Weapons School.
Most recently, before becoming chief of staff of the Air Force, Brown served as commander of Pacific Air Forces, the air component of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.