President Biden intends to appoint Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the Air Drive chief of employees, on Thursday to grow to be the nation’s most senior army officer, formalizing what had been one of many worst kept secrets in Washington.
If confirmed by the Senate, Normal Brown can be solely the second Black man, after Colin L. Powell, to carry the job of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, the senior army adviser to the president.
Normal Brown would succeed Gen. Mark A. Milley, whose time period has spanned 4 tumultuous years that encompassed efforts by President Donald J. Trump to make use of active-duty troops in opposition to American protesters; the riots on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan; and the warfare in Ukraine.
Normal Brown’s affirmation would additionally imply that together with Protection Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, the highest two Pentagon leaders can be Black males for the primary time in historical past.
The White Home mentioned Mr. Biden would announce the nomination within the Rose Backyard on Thursday afternoon.
Normal Brown, who has intensive expertise within the Center East and Asia, would be part of Mr. Austin in advising Mr. Biden on nationwide safety issues from the warfare in Ukraine to China’s army expansionism within the Asia-Pacific area. A senior administration official who spoke on situation of anonymity mentioned Normal Brown was deeply educated concerning the challenges posed by China and that he had a robust consciousness of NATO’s capabilities and views.
The 2 males would additionally signify the Pentagon at congressional hearings, earlier than usually hostile Republican lawmakers who’ve complained that the Protection Division has grow to be too “woke.”
As an example, Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, complained throughout a radio interview this month that the Biden administration’s efforts to develop variety within the army have been weakening the power. “We’re dropping within the army, so quick, our readiness when it comes to recruitment,” Mr. Tuberville mentioned. “And why? I’ll inform you why. As a result of the Democrats are attacking our army, saying we have to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists.”
He mentioned that whereas Democrats take into account white nationalists to be racists, “I name them People.”
In appointing one other African American man to a senior Pentagon place, Mr. Biden could also be establishing a contentious interval on Capitol Hill. However the president can be recasting the characters in {a photograph} of Mr. Trump, surrounded by Pentagon leaders who have been completely white.
Normal Brown, a fighter pilot, received out over his closest competitor, the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. David H. Berger. Recognized extensively as “CQ,” Normal Brown will not be a talker like Normal Milley, who loves lengthy historic expositions that join the modern-day army and political maneuvering of the previous. However Normal Brown brings to the job a capability to satisfy the second when it arises.
Take the nationwide protests across the demise of George Floyd, an African American man, in June 2020 by the hands of Minneapolis cops. Mr. Trump needed to invoke the Revolt Act to ship troops to focus on the protesters. Normal Brown was days away from his Senate confirmation vote in a Republican-led Senate to be Air Drive chief of employees, however that didn’t cease him from posting a five-minute video on-line that electrified the rank and file.
“I’m serious about how full I’m with emotion not only for George Floyd, however the many African People which have suffered the identical destiny as George Floyd,” Normal Brown mentioned within the video, an unusually public assertion by a high-ranking army chief a couple of delicate and politically charged problem.
“I’m serious about protests in my nation ’tis of thee, candy land of liberty, the equality expressed in our Declaration of Independence and the Structure that I’ve sworn my grownup life to help and defend. I’m serious about a historical past of racial points and my very own experiences that didn’t at all times sing of liberty and equality.”
It was a rare transfer for a basic not too long ago promoted by Mr. Trump, who on the time was offended about what he considered as Pentagon intransigence over his need to deploy the troops. However Normal Brown’s video additionally immediately recognized as a possible inheritor — ought to he survive the remaining months of Mr. Trump’s tenure — to Normal Milley.
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.
