THE FIRST shot against America’s senior military leaders was fired within hours of Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th: General Mark Milley’s portrait was removed from the wall on the E-ring, where it had hung with paintings of other former chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff. A day later the commandant of the coast guard, Admiral Linda Fagan, was thrown overboard. On February 21st it was the most senior serving officer, General Charles “CQ” Brown, a former F-16 pilot, who was ejected from the Pentagon. At least he was spared a Trumpian farewell insult. “He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader,” Mr Trump declared.

Other top brass were cashiered, too, among them Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations; and General James Slife, the deputy head of the air force. Perhaps even more alarming, given the administration’s trashing of conventions across the federal government, the judge advocates general of the army, navy and air force—ie, the services’ most senior lawyers—were dismissed, too.

The sackings have little to do with kindling the “warrior ethos”, which the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, vows to do. General Brown has clocked more than 3,000 flight hours, including 130 in combat. Admiral Franchetti had commanded not one but two aircraft-carrier strike groups.

Instead they are casualties of the culture wars that the Trump administration is waging against “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI). General Brown is the most prominent black military officer; Admirals Fagan and Franchetti were the first women in their jobs. Senior military officers serve at the president’s pleasure. But their dismissals may prove as chilling to recruitment as any of DEI’s excesses. Mark Montgomery, a former rear-admiral, decried the sackings as “short-sighted, ill-informed moves” that would damage morale and combat readiness.

General Brown, a man of few and measured words, abandoned his reserve in 2020 amid protests over the killing of George Floyd, a black man who was choked to death by a white police officer. In a video issued as the commander of Pacific air forces, he described his emotions and experiences as a black pilot. “I’m thinking about my air-force career where I was often the only African-American in my squadron or, as a senior officer, the only African-American in the room,” he said.

The general earned the call sign “Swamp Thing” when his plane was struck by lightning and he ejected into the Florida Everglades. This time the bolt was hurled by Mr Hegseth, a former army major turned Fox television presenter who dislikes “woke” officers. Shortly before his nomination as defence secretary he told an interviewer: “First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the joint chiefs.”

To secure confirmation by the Senate Mr Hegseth disavowed his known oppo1sition to women in combat, and had to fend off allegations of sexual assault, drunkenness and financial incompetence, which he denies. With three Republican senators voting against him, Mr Hegseth was confirmed only on the casting vote of the vice-president, J.D. Vance.

Mr Hegseth embodies the anti-elitism of the America First movement and is contemptuous of senior Pentagon leaders whom he accuses of failing to win America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, gaining jobs through the swamp of Washington politics and being squeamish about combat. The defence secretary claims his campaign against DEI is intended to restore “merit” in military ranks.

Yet in seeking a new chairman, Mr Trump did not choose from the usual pool of four-star officers serving as service chiefs or combatant commands. Instead he plucked out of retirement a three-star air-force general, Dan “Raizin” Caine, who may need to secure a waiver from Congress (and will require confirmation). Another former F-16 pilot, General Caine is regarded as capable, though he lacks General Brown’s extensive experience of the Pacific. Among other roles, he was a liaison officer with the CIA; he is now an entrepreneur. Mr Trump met him in Iraq and warmed to his can-do attitude to destroying the Islamic State “caliphate” and, in Mr Trump’s telling, for donning a “Make America Great Again” cap (which General Caine’s aides deny).

The military establishment is also under assault from the chainsaw of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Pentagon hopes to cut 5-8% of the civilian workforce, starting with some 5,400 probationary workers who will start to be dismissed next week. Mr Hegseth has also asked service chiefs to present immediate plans to slice 8% from their budgets to make room for new priorities such as strengthening the southern border and building an “Iron Dome” air-defence system. Whether such efforts result in cuts to the Pentagon’s top line is yet to be seen. Much will depend on how far Congress is willing to challenge DOGE.

General Milley, detested on the American right for his increasingly open criticism of Mr Trump, warned in his departure speech in 2023: “We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.” Instead, warriors take an oath to the constitution.

What Mr Trump demands, though, is personal loyalty. And his administration is sweeping aside norms across the federal government with surprising speed. Indeed, the sacking of the three judge advocates general raises worrying questions about how far the Pentagon is prepared to test conventional legal restraints. They are also accused of being too squeamish about combat and too restricted by the laws of war. And Mark Esper, a former defence secretary, claimed in his memoirs that Mr Trump at one point inquired about ordering soldiers to shoot protesters in the legs, which Mr Trump denies.

As air-force chief, General Brown’s motto has been “Accelerate, Change or Lose”. In the warp-speed change that Mr Trump is unleashing, it is General Brown who has lost out. ■

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