New appointments at the Pentagon
“Would-be dictator”: Chief of General Staff Milley hands out against Trump as he leaves
One goes, one comes: After four years in office, Mark Milley (left) is replaced as US Chief of General Staff by Charles Q. Brown
© Saul Loeb / AFP
It is a first in US history. For the first time, the two most important positions in the Pentagon are held by black people. At his farewell, Chief of the General Staff Mark Milley expressed sharp criticism of former President Donald Trump.
Change in leadership in the US armed forces: After four demanding years in office, the US Chief of General Staff is appointed Mark Milley was replaced by Air Force General Charles Q. Brown. US President Joe Biden honored the services of the outgoing Chief of Staff on Friday at a ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in the Washington area. The 65-year-old army general is a “patriot, uncompromising in the exercise of his duty, fearless in the face of danger and steadfast in his service to the country.”
Milley used his farewell speech to take a swipe at his former boss Donald Trump, Biden’s predecessor in the White House. “We do not take an oath before a king, queen, tyrant or dictator,” he said. “We also don’t take an oath before a would-be dictator.” US soldiers would take their oath to the Constitution.
Milley was appointed chief of staff by Trump in 2019. Tensions arose when Trump refused to acknowledge his election defeat against Biden at the end of 2020.
Trump calls Milley a traitor
After the storming of the US Capitol by radical Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, Milley contacted his Chinese counterpart to assure him that the US was “stable” and would not attack China, as investigative journalist Bob Woodward later revealed. Trump has attacked Milley for this, recently declaring it a “treason” that in earlier times would have been punished with “death.”
Under President Biden, Milley had to coordinate the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 and later the military support of Ukraine in the war against Russia.
The new Chief of Staff, Brown, was also sworn in at the ceremony. The current chief of staff of the US Air Force is the second African American to hold the position of the top US military after Colin Powell (1989 to 1993). The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, Carsten Breuer, was also invited to the ceremony. US President Joe Biden described Brown as a “first-class strategist” who had made a name for himself through his unparalleled judgment and unwavering demeanor. For the first time in history, the two most important positions in the Pentagon are held by black people. The head of the Pentagon is Lloyd Austin, who became the first black secretary of defense in the US when he was appointed in 2021.
The Chief of the General Staff is the military advisor to the US President and leads the strategic planning of the Defense Department. Brown had been chief of staff of the Air Force since 2020 and was nominated by then-President Donald Trump. His successor Biden nominated Brown, who was born in 1962, as the new chief of staff in July.
Republican prevents confirmation of military posts
However, Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville has been blocking the routine confirmation of important personnel within the US military for weeks for ideological reasons – and thus also delayed the confirmation of Brown. Hundreds of other appointments, which are usually voted on in groups, are still pending. Biden called on Tuberville to abandon his blockade stance. It is “completely unacceptable” that more than 300 military officers and reservists are being held in limbo.
Brown has openly shared his own experiences with racism in the military and other areas of life in the past. After the violent death of the African-American George Floyd during a police operation, he published a video in which he reported on his experiences – such as the feeling of being constantly underestimated and having to work twice as hard to prove that the reservations against black people were are not applicable.