On 22 February 2025, President Trump announced that he was firing CJCS GEN Brown and was considering nominating retired LtGen Dan “Razin’” Caine. Superficially, the firing was not a surprise given the new POTUS and SECDEF intention to rid DoD of leadership that was spreading DEI. Firing the ringleader is the first way to change the culture in any organization.
Potentially bringing back a retired general to serve as CJCS honestly is not too surprising either. Given the pervasive weakness of the current senior generals (lying about Afghanistan, weakness in COVID and DEI), finding a 3-star or 4-star on active duty to be trusted to ‘do the right thing’ and restore America’s military to past greatness is going to be hard. Further, given the fact that the only general officers right now who are actively working to improve the military are the retired ones in watchdog groups such as STARRS and MacArthur Society and the Calvert Group and ones that are working on their own to accomplish the same.
POTUS has also made it clear that with the establishment of DOGE under Elon Musk, he is trying to root out fraud and waste in the government and downsize the federal workforce and expenses. Regarding DoD, Trump has said he has wanted deep cuts and SECDEF Hegseth announced 4 days ago he seeks $50 Billion in cuts this year. 1
Until I hear otherwise, I like to give individuals the benefit of the doubt. I have heard nothing to question Caine’s abilities and honor as a general. However, one cause of concern is his current investment and involvement in the US Military Industrial Complex.
According to his personal LinkedIn Account, Caine is a member of the following investment firms:
Thrive Capital Advisor, January 2025 to present
Partners with Hypergiant Industries (defense infrastructure)2
Shield Capital Venture Partner, January 2025 to present
Invests include defense industry companies3
Ribbit Capital Venture Partner, January 2025 to present
Investments include cybersecurity4
Conflict of interest could become a huge issue in not only his selection for CJCS but his time as CJCS and time after in second retirement. With an administration committed to ‘draining the swamp’ and reducing the budget (including DoD), assurances regarding Caine should be forthcoming and restrictions on his ability to be employed by or invest in any company with ties in any way to the Defense industry after his CJCS time should be crystal clear and include a duration of restriction. After the concerns with the past SECDEF and his time as a board member of Raytheon right before he was SECDEF, clarity and transparency is essential to do it better than the last administration.
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/hegseth-directs-pentagon-to-find-50-billion-in-cuts-this-year-to-fund-trump-military-priorities/ar-AA1zoRnj?ocid=BingNewsSerp
- https://www.hypergiant.com/2023/08/21/hypergiant-industries-partners-with-trive-capital/
- https://shieldcap.com/
- https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ribbit-leads-50-million-investment-141630136.html
