WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will on Thursday nominate Air Force General Charles Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He will replace Army General Mark Milley as the US’s top military officer. Charles Brown would become the 2nd Black officer to serve as US’s top military officer following Colin Powell.
Biden to Nominate Air Force General as Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff
According to the White House, the nomination for General Mark Brown to replace Mark Milley will be made at a Rose Garden ceremony. Charles Brown was commissioned as an officer in 1984 and currently serves as chief of staff of the US Air Force. As per AFP, he is an experienced pilot with over 3,000 flight hours, 130 of them in combat.
Charles Brown has commanded a fighter squadron and two fighter wings, as well as US air forces under Indo-Pacific Command and the Central Command.
After the 2020 murder of Black man George Floyd by a white policeman in Minnesota, the Air Force General also recorded an emotional video regarding his personal experiences, including with discrimination in the US military.
He said, “I am thinking about my career in Air Force, where I was frequently the only African American in my squad or as a senior officer,”. “I am thinking about the pressure I felt to accomplish error-free, ” he said.
Brown will still need to be confirmed by the US Senate to replace the present top official Milley, who has served as chairman since 2019.
