The former top US general whom Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired last year criticized the use of the military for political missions in an op-ed published Friday, pointing to the Trump administration’s deployment of troops to clamp down on crime in major cities.
“(W)hen presidents use the armed forces for more politically contentious missions, such as addressing domestic crime in cities, the work of the military becomes more fraught,” former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown wrote in Foreign Affairs, along with two other authors: Duke political science professor Peter Feaver and North Carolina lawyer Andrew Kragie.
“Resorting to a military solution rather than fixing the underlying incapacity or dysfunction in civilian institutions diverts the military from focusing on its primary combat mission,” the authors continued. “And … it is not the military’s job to save the republic from political impasses. Indeed, if you ask too much of the military, you risk the entire enterprise.”
Brown, a retired Air Force general and the second Black man to serve as America’s most senior general, was fired in February 2025, along with Admiral Lisa Franchetti, who was then the chief of the Navy and the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The move came as the administration has banned diversity and inclusion efforts across the military and government more generally.
