When Army Gen. Mark Milley formally handed the highest-ranking military title over to Air Force Gen. CQ Brown last week, he left a daunting series of challenges for a fellow commander with a markedly different personality than his own.
As the new Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Brown faces a West growing weary of support for Ukraine, partisan brawls over the Defense budget, growing culture war battles over the military, and an array of tensions abroad — from unrest in the Sahel to threats from China, Iran and North Korea.
But Brown, a quiet and steady diplomat to Milley’s boisterous Massachusetts-native manner, will likely take a different approach to conflicts than his predecessor, experts say.
“I think of Gen. Brown as much more buttoned down, very personally engaging but also professionally more cautious and more restrained than Gen. Milley,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a security fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Milley, whom O’Hanlon described as having a “back slapping, effusive personality” and “no shyness for the microphone,” saw myriad crises and potential political pitfalls during his tenure, moments that prompted him to frequently wade into the middle of hot-button conversations.
“I’d be surprised if Gen. Brown has any interest in being that big of a presence himself in our public policy debates. I think he’ll be more focused on a more traditional limited portfolio” the Joint Chiefs chairman takes on, O’Hanlon added.
At the ceremony last week to mark Milley’s exit and Brown’s ascension, President Biden praised the Texas native and former fighter pilot’s “unflappable demeanor.” At the same event, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin lauded Brown’s leadership, noting that “he will defend our democracy without flinching.”
Brown steps into the role at a time when the Defense Department must navigate several festering issues, including a House Speaker fight that imperils future Ukraine aid, Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) hold on military nominees in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion policy, and strained defense relations with China, which America sees as its chief military threat.
But the four-star general is also starting his new position with nearly four decades of military experience, most recently as Air Force chief of staff, where he routinely pressed for new innovations and efforts to grow and maintain the service in the face of competitors.
That background has experts predicting he’ll take the more traditional route when it comes to the job compared to his predecessor. The chairman’s typical main jobs are to advise the president on the use of force, report to the president on the state of the military, and help guide innovation in the armed forces.
“Milley was much more focused on the policy and strategy in kind of dealing with the White House and then [Capitol Hill],” said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute think tank.
“Milley tended to maybe incorporate more of the political dimension in his work about the military’s role in society. I think that was partly because he got kind of pushed into it, but also I think that was maybe his predisposition. He’s got a Princeton University PhD and he comes out of that more kind of military-political world as opposed to Brown, who is going to come out of a much more operational, technical world.”
Clark, who called Brown’s demeanor “very thoughtful,” said he believes the general will “exert more of the operational, strategy dimensions of the office and focus on — what’s the military doing to deal with its challenges? How does the military best support national strategy?”
Still, Brown is no stranger to tackling the thornier issues, exerting a quiet yet powerful presence as he deftly addressed racial tensions in the country three years ago.
In an Air Force video released shortly after Minneapolis police officers murdered George Floyd in June 2020 — an act that set off a wave of protests and civil unrest across the country — Brown spoke in a steady voice of his experiences as a Black man in America and in the military.
“I can’t fix centuries of racism in our country, nor can I fix decades of discrimination that may have impacted members of our Air Force,” Brown said. “I’m thinking about how I can make improvements personally, professionally and institutionally so that all airmen both today and tomorrow, appreciate the value of diversity and can serve in an environment where they can reach their full potential.”
That quiet demeanor carried over during his confirmation process to be the military’s highest-ranking officer, when he kept his thoughts to himself as the vote was held up for months by Tuberville. The Alabama senator ultimately opposed Brown’s confirmation, citing the general’s support for “woke policies.”
In his first week on the job, Brown set a steady tone for his tenure in a message to the Joint Force, outlining his priorities for the next four years and calling for the U.S. military to continue to modernize and adapt.
“Through all, trust is the foundation of our profession,” Brown wrote in the Monday letter. “Trust across the force, that we will do right by each other. The trust of our families, that we will care for them through trial and triumph. The trust of our nation and elected leaders, in our commitment to our oath and profession. As Chairman, I will strive every day to strengthen these bonds.”
At least for the first year in his new role, Brown won’t have to deal with some of the tumult Milley endured under former President Trump, who often sought to bend the military to his own political whims.
Milley quickly saw his own relationship with Trump deteriorate as the general sought to weather crisis after crisis including threats of nuclear war from Iran and North Korea, a worldwide pandemic, civil unrest in summer 2020 and an insurrection.
Trump as recently as last week was still lambasting the general, calling Milley “slow moving and thinking” and a “woke train wreck.”
And Milley appeared to have little love for his former commander in chief, telling service members during his farewell address that they “do not take an oath to a king, or a queen, to a tyrant or a dictator or a wannabe dictator.”
O’Hanlon predicted a far quieter start to Brown’s new job. But with most crises not easily foreseen and a presidential election next year, “reality may have something else to say about it,” he added.