WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s choice to become a top US military officer will retire from Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Kane and order the prime minister through military call sign “Razin” during Iraqi period meetings did. before. Officials who served as Kane measured him on Saturday and described him as non-political.
Trump said Friday night that Kane was his choice as the next co-status chief and made the announcement in the same social media post that he fired Air Force General CQ Brown Jr. His career as a history-making fighter pilot.
Brown’s expulsion soon comes as Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegses push away officers who support diversity, equity and inclusion into the ranks, following that of other military leaders. I did. The new Republican administration says it will focus on deadly combat forces.
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Kane retired in December. It was not immediately clear what it would take to imagine him in active service so that he could go through the Senate confirmation.
Caine does not meet the prerequisites of that position, such as being a combat commander or service chief, as laid out in a 1986 law allowing the president to waive those requirements.
“I know he’s non-traditional, but that’s kind of what this administration wants,” said Chris Miller, Trump’s last acting secretary in his first term.
Kane “doesn’t know how the Pentagon works,” Miller told The Associated Press. Kane also has experience in the National Guard and works in the private sector.
“He spent time as a descendant of the citizens. The man went out and did other things. He brings a non-traditional perspective to the chairman.
Trump’s relationship with Kane dates his first administration. They met during their trip to Iraq, as Trump said in his 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference or in his speech to the CPAC.
Trump said he asked Kane why it would take another two years to end the fight against Islamic state groups. Kane told him that if he did it his way, it could be a week or so.
“We’re just going to hit them from a temporary base in Syria,” Trump told him. ” But if you gave us permission, we could hit them from behind, from the side, from everything, from the base you are now, at the moment. They don’t know that hell hit them. ”
The question after Brown’s firing was whether Trump wanted a loyalist as chairman of the co-chief chairman. Trump praised Kane for his unrelated appearance in Miami last week and denounced current military leaders.
“The general ‘Razin’ Kane – he’s a general thing. He’s not a TV general, he’s a real general,” Trump said Wednesday two days before his true social post.
“We have the greatest military in the world, but we don’t have the best top leadership. That’s why Afghanistan is such a scary situation, so embarrassing, so many other things that are so many things. That was,” Trump added. “But when we want, there’s no one even close to us, with the right leadership.”
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Trump previously suggested that Kane was a political supporter. In a CPAC speech last year, Trump recalled meeting Kane in 2018 while visiting the military in Iraq.
“He said, ‘I’ll kill you for you,’ Trump said. “Then he wears a hat that will make America great again.” ”
But Kane was stubbornly apolitical, an army officer who served with him and remained close to him said on Saturday.
“Gen. Kane doesn’t have a Maga hat. He’ll never put it,” said an official who was not allowed to speak to the media on the record and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Miller, the former deputy secretary, served in the pentagon when Kane led the military’s special access program central office.
That position is one of the most difficult places to work across the department, due to the concern of Congress. You have to be really, really skilled to handle all your districts,” Miller said.
Kane, like Brown, flew F-16 fighter jets. Last month, Caine completed his CIA assignment and spoke at length about his life and career in a detailed episode of “The Afterburn Podcast” on January 27th.
“I grew up as the son of a fighter pilot, and this was our family business,” he said. Both he and his father began an army career that flew the F-4 Phantom, and eventually flew the F-16.
On the podcast, Kane sent messages to young people trying to serve, as well as those already flying. “Cherish it,” Kane said.
“And remember, at least while flying planes in the military, it’s about something deeper,” he said. “It’s about serving our country, being willing to protect and protect this country.”
Steve Peoples, AP National Politician in New York, contributed to this report.
