President Trump’s pick to serve as his new top military adviser, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, is a former F-16 pilot and deputy commanding general of a joint task force that fought ISIS in Iraq, who would return to the Pentagon after having also spent time in the investment and venture capital world.
A defense official on Monday described Caine, Trump’s nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as a “nonpartisan candidate” and a “true air-ground integrator.”
“He’s a guy that truly understands the joint force and how air integrates with ground and fires,” the official told Defense Daily. “He’s a joint guy through and through.”
“I think he’s going to listen to the service chiefs and understand what their priorities are and try to give way together to transform our military,” the official added.
Trump announced last Friday evening he was firing Air Force Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, Jr. as his joint chiefs chairman and would tap Caine to be his replacement as the nation’s top uniformed officer.
“General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur and a ‘warfighter’ with significant interagency and special operations experience,” Trump said in a statement on social media. “During my first term, Razin was instrumental in the complete annihilation of the ISIS caliphate. It was done in record setting time, a matter of weeks. Many so-called military ‘geniuses’ said it would take years to defeat ISIS. General Caine, on the other hand, said it could be done quickly, and he delivered.”
Caine’s most recent senior military role was as the associate director for military affairs at the CIA from 2021 to 2024, and his Air Force biography notes that from 2009 to 2016 he was a part-time member of the National Guard and “a serial entrepreneur and investor.”
After retiring from military service in December, Caine joined venture capital firm Shield Capital and he is also currently a partner at Ribbit Capital, an advisor to Thrive Capital and chairman of the national security advisory board at Voyager Space, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“His background suggests familiarity with industrial base issues and defense technology. We don’t know how he could further reshape DoD programs and priorities, but there already is a fair amount in motion,” Byron Callan, an analyst with Capital Alpha Partners wrote.
Navy Adm. Christopher Grady, the current joint chiefs vice chair, is performing the duties of the chairman until a replacement is confirmed by the Senate.
Caine, 56, retired from the Air Force as a three-star in December and would likely be the first Joint Chiefs chairman to have never served as a four-star prior to assuming the role, as well being the rare official that would have to return to military service for the position. His nomination will need to be approved by the Senate.
“I think what’s most important to us in uniform is he’s a man of character and integrity, so he’s going to advise the president with what’s best for the country not with what the president or anybody else necessarily wants,” the defense official told Defense Daily. “He’s coming in at an interesting time, but he’s just a really good person for this job.”