President Joe Biden is considering several candidates to replace top U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reports the The Wall Street Journal.
The leading candidates to succeed Milley are Gen. Charles "CQ" Brown, the Air Force chief of staff, and Gen. David Berger, the Marine Corps commandant, according to the Journal. Milley's four-year appointment ends Sept. 30.
Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, who serves as both head of U.S. Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency, is also a contender. The president is expected to announce his nominee in the spring.
The chairman is the highest-ranking military officer, serving as the top military adviser to the president. The appointment needs Senate confirmation.
Each of the services nominates an eligible general or admiral for the position; traditionally, the job rotates among the services, the Journal noted. Because Milley is from the Army, it is unlikely that he would be succeeded by Nakasone, another Army officer.
To his credit, Nakasone has resolved rifts among the various U.S. government agencies involved in cyber defense and has overseen U.S. cyber command and the NSA, contending with rising cyberthreats from China, Iran, and Russia as well as from hackers and criminal gangs.
Brown is experienced in the Asia-Pacific region, where China is a top national-security concern. He is the first Black commander to lead a service. Brown is said to be favored by many within the military. He flew 130 hours of combat missions and is credited with inspiring minority officers across the services.
Berger, meanwhile, is a four-star general who commanded Marines in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He has sought to modernize the Marine Corps, including in the Indo-Pacific region.
It is unknown if the Navy has nominated a candidate. Navy Adm. Chris Grady is currently the Joint Chiefs’ vice chairman.
Milley has served as chairman during a number of crises, including the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the Jan. 6 Capitol uprising, the protests following the killing of George Floyd, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In the run-up to the Russian invasion, Milley warned legislators of the Kremlin's military plan, persuading skeptics, the Journal reported.
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