WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is nominating General Charles Q. Brown Jr. as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a senior administration official said, seeking to elevate the Air Force chief to become the nation’s most senior military officer.
Brown, known as “C.Q.,” would replace General Mark Milley, the current chief, if confirmed by the Senate. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recommended Brown for the position, and Biden was pleased to approve it, the senior administration official said. Biden sees in Brown a wealth of military experience shaped in both peacetime and war – a leader who understands the strategic challenges the United States faces around the world, the official said.
Brown would be the second Black person to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs — he’s already the first to lead a military branch as head of the Air Force — and his nomination comes as the U.S. approaches the 75th Anniversary of President Harry Truman’s executive order to desegregate the military. Confirmation would mean that — along with Austin— the top two Pentagon leadership posts would be held by Black men for the first time in American history.
