Biden To Nominate Air Force General As Top US Officer

Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2023 ) :US President Joe Biden will on Thursday nominate Air Force General Charles Brown to replace Army General Mark Milley as the country's top military officer.

Brown would become the second Black officer to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- after Colin Powell from 1989-1993 -- at a time when the Pentagon is headed by Lloyd Austin, the country's first Black secretary of defence.

The nomination for Brown to replace Milley -- whose term ends in September -- will be made at a Rose Garden ceremony, the White House said in a statement.

Brown, who currently serves as chief of staff of the US Air Force and was commissioned as an officer in 1984, is an experienced pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours, 130 of them in combat.

He has commanded a fighter squadron and two fighter wings, as well as US air forces under the Central Command and Indo-Pacific Command.

Following the 2020 murder of Black man George Floyd by a white police officer in Minnesota, Brown recorded an emotional video about his personal experiences, including discrimination in the American military.

"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," Brown said.

"I'm thinking about the pressure I felt to perform error-free, especially for supervisors I perceive had expected less from me as an African American," he said.

"I'm thinking about having to represent by working twice as hard to prove their expectations and perceptions of African Americans were invalid." Brown -- who is known by the initials "CQ" -- will still need to be confirmed by the US Senate in order to replace Milley, who has served as chairman since 2019.

But a swift confirmation is far from guaranteed, as Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville has stalled some 200 senior military nominations over his opposition to Pentagon policy on reproductive health care.

Milley has helped Austin helm US-led international efforts to support Ukraine's fight against invading Russian forces -- backing that has been a key part of battlefield successes by Kyiv's forces.

His time in the post was also marked by the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan that was capped by the Taliban's takeover of the country. He subsequently described the war as a "strategic failure."