President Biden on Thursday announced that Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. will become the country’s senior-most military officer later this year.
If approved by the Senate, Brown, 60, would become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, replacing Army Gen. Mark Milley, whose term ends at the end of September.
Brown would be only the second Black man to become chairman after Gen. Colin Powell, who was selected more than three decades ago by President George H. W. Bush.
It would also mean that, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in his current role, the top two senior Pentagon positions would be filled by Black men for the first time in U.S. history.
Brown would also be the first Air Force officer to become Joint Chiefs chair in more than a decade. Not since retired Gen. Richard Myers, who was in the role until 2005, has the Air Force had one of its own hold the esteemed position.
Here are some things to know about the next potential Joint Chiefs chair.
He’s been outspoken on racism – and has already gone viral
Brown is perhaps most known for an Air Force video released shortly after Minneapolis police officers murdered George Floyd, an act that set off a wave of protests and civil unrest across the country.
Then the commander of Pacific Air Forces, Brown spoke on camera of his experiences as a Black man in America and in the military.
The timing of the video was significant, as it was posted on June 5, 2020, days away from a Senate vote on his nomination to be the Air Force’s next chief of staff. That vote would also make him the first Black person to serve in that role in the country’s history.
“I’m thinking about how full I am with emotion, not just for George Floyd, but the many African Americans that have suffered the same fate as George Floyd. . . . 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.
Brown also spoke about the experience of “living in two worlds” as a Black man and as a military officer, noting that his own experiences “didn’t always sing of liberty and equality.”
Senior defense leaders rarely make such public commentary, and the publicity from it brought the national debate over racism and inequality firmly into the military sphere.
“I can’t fix centuries of racism in our country, nor can I fix decades of discrimination that may have impacted members of our Air Force,” Brown said. “I’m thinking about how I can make improvements personally, professionally and institutionally so that all airmen both today and tomorrow, appreciate the value of diversity and can serve in an environment where they can reach their full potential.”
A decorated background
Brown, a former F-16 fighter pilot, didn’t have a typical route to the skies. He attended Texas Tech University on an ROTC scholarship, rather than the Air Force Academy, and has said he only expected to serve in the military for four years. What’s more, he’s been frank about his early years in ROTC, saying that he almost quit after one semester.
After receiving his civil engineering degree and commissioned as an officer in 1984, he eventually made it to MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. in 1986 to train on F-16s.
By the early 1990s he was an F-16 instructor pilot at the Air Force Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, considered a top job for instructors. He would eventually reach more than 3,000 flying hours, including 130 in combat.
But he was also gaining valuable experience at the Pentagon, first as an aide-de-camp to then-Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ron Fogleman in 1994, then later in 2004 as a lieutenant colonel working for retired Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the former head of Air Combat Command.
From there, Brown’s career began to pick up steam, and he held stints as head of F-16 fighter wings in Italy, commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, then deputy chief of U.S. Central Command. In the last two roles, he helped direct the air war against the Islamic State group.
By summer 2018, Brown had taken command of Pacific Air Forces, serving in that role for nearly two years before he was nominated for Air Force chief of staff in March 2020.
He’s been projected to be the front runner
Brown may have an illustrious military career but he’s not the only one to be a contender for Joint Chiefs chair.
Biden has also reportedly considered Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger for the top job and has met with both men.
But several of Brown’s colleagues have hinted at his possible accension, with Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall giving a nod and a wink to that back in March.
“Gen. Brown is an exceptional leader with broad strategic perspectives, and a thoughtful, measured approach to any problem set,” Kendall said in a March 7 speech, “I would hate to lose such a great partner. But there is a chance someone who outranks me considerably might see those same attributes in CQ.”
Even before Biden announces his decision, Brown on Friday received praise as a top choice from those inside and outside the military.
“He embodies both the joint and service perspective, but especially helpful will be his deep knowledge and experience in the Indo-Pacific theater – the key to this ‘decisive decade,’” said retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro, a former staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“As Chairman, General Brown will be in a position to drive the joint force and joint operations to deal with the threats posed not only by China, but also Russia, Iran, and North Korea.”
Updated: 2:43 p.m.