Caine confirmed as Joint Chiefs chairman, becoming Trump’s top military adviser

UNITED STATES – APRIL 1: Lt. Gen. John D. Caine, USAF (Retired), nominee to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrives for his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The Senate has confirmed retired Lt. Gen. Dan Caine to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, making Caine the first career officer from the National Guard to rise to the level of the nation’s top uniformed position.

Caine’s confirmation, in a 60-25 vote shortly after midnight today, was a rare show of bipartisanship that saw more than a dozen Democrats support the nomination — a sign that Caine had assuaged concerns brought about by President Donald Trump‘s involvement in his unconventional nomination.

Caine was nominated by Trump on the heels of the president’s firing of his previous chairman Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, a Black fighter pilot with a resume of leadership positions in the Indo-Pacific, who was accused by conservative critics of espousing views aligned with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

In the wake of the announcement, several media outlets reported a story Trump has told at public events in which he suggested Caine put on a MAGA hat during a meeting in Iraq and allegedly said he would “kill for” Trump, raising concerns that the president had fired his current military adviser to install a political loyalist.

Asked about the incident during his confirmation hearing, Caine repeatedly denied having ever worn a MAGA hat or other “political merchandise.”

“I went back and listened to those tapes, and I think the president was actually talking about somebody else,” Caine said when asked about the incident by Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI.

Caine also stated that he would give the president his best military advice “even when the president may have different feelings about it,” and uphold the Constitution, even if he was fired as a result.

During his confirmation hearing, Republican lawmakers touted Caine’s joint and interagency experience, which includes numerous roles in the special operations community, director of joint operations and training on the Joint Staff, and — most recently — three years as the CIA’s associate director for military affairs before his retirement in 2024. Caine, a former F-16 pilot, also has insight into the Pentagon’s most secretive weapons development efforts as a previous director of special access programs.

Caine was also praised for his time spent in the private sector, including as an adviser to space firm Voyager and as a venture partner to Shield Capital. However, he lacked certain qualifications to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, such as having served as a combatant commander or service chief, which required Trump to waive those requirements.

Because Caine was retired from the military at the time of his nomination, the Senate first held a vote to instate him as an active-duty major general before confirming him as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position that automatically bestows the rank of four-star general.

Corrected at 4/11/25 at 11:30 a.m. to amend Caine’s standing as the first career Guard officer to take chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff position.