Dan Caine, President Trump’s pick to lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has an unusual path to top ranks. In 2018, General Caine told the president that the Islamic State could be defeated in a week, not two years as predicted by senior advisers.
The general’s career took him from being a White House fellow at the Agriculture Department to serving as a counterterrorism specialist under President George W. Bush. He also worked on highly classified programs and operations with the CIA.
General Caine offered a reflection of his time as the chief of weapons and tactics attached to the 121st Fighter Squadron in Washington’s Maryland suburbs after the 9/11 attacks, recalling how he deployed fighter jets over the city for the first time.
However, General Caine has told aides that he never put on a Make America Great Again hat during his meeting with Trump, contradicting the president’s claim. Despite this, Trump will nominate General Caine as his next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/us/politics/dan-caine-trump-joint-chiefs.html