Photo of Gen. John D. Caine from the Defense Department
Caine acknowledged his unconventional nomination during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee: "In our family, we serve. When asked, we always say yes. Senators, I acknowledge that I'm an unconventional nominee. These are unconventional times."
He worked as the associate director of military affairs for the CIA from 2021 to 2024 and founded a regional airline in Texas. He was a White House fellow at the Agriculture Department and a counterterrorism specialist on the White House’s Homeland Security Council.
Caine was among a group of military leaders who met with the president in December 2018 at the Al Asad airbase in Iraq. Trump was there to deliver a Christmas message and hear from commanders on the ground, and there Caine told Trump they could defeat ISIS quickly with a surge of resources and a lifting of restrictions on engagement.
Trump fired Gen. C.Q. Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff upon taking office. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
NEW NAVY CHIEF 'REGRETS' COSTLY MISSILE STRIKES AGAINST HOUTHIS, PUSHES FOR CHEAPER RED SEA DEFENSE
Caine vowed his duty would be to advise the president on defense considerations without any political influence.
The role, he said, "starts with being a good example from the top and making sure that we are nonpartisan and apolitical and speaking the truth to power," Caine said.
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Trump's first chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, has now become a top foe – the president recently stripped him of his security clearance and had his portrait taken down at the Pentagon.
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