Dan ‘Razin’ Caine, Trump’s nominee for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, set to testify at confirmation hearing
Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be America’s top military officer, is about to take the next step in his confirmation process when he goes before members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to field questions about his views on critical national security issues.
His confirmation hearing, scheduled for April 1, will be Caine’s most high-profile public appearance since Trump plucked him from relative obscurity after firing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown and announcing his intent to nominate Caine to replace him.
Trump officially submitted his nomination to the Senate on March 10.
If confirmed, Caine would become a four-star general and Trump’s top military adviser amid international conflicts and a major modernization push by the Defense Department to acquire new AI capabilities and other high-tech systems, as well as buy software and other tools more rapidly. The Pentagon is also in the midst of DOGE reviews, hiring freezes and efforts to reduce the DOD’s civilian workforce by more than 50,000 people.
Caine was an unconventional choice to take on the U.S. military’s top role. He had already retired from the military and didn’t hold a four-star rank before being tapped.
Trump has praised Caine for his efforts to combat the ISIS terrorist group during his first administration.
“He’s a real general, not a television general,” Trump said in February during remarks at an investment summit in Miami. “We have the greatest military in the world, but we don’t have the greatest top, top leadership.”
The nominee is a Virginia Military Institute graduate and former F-16 fighter pilot, who held a variety of roles during his decades-long military career. His last assignment was associate director for military affairs at the CIA, which ended in December 2024, according to his Air Force bio.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the top Democrat and ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said during an appearance on ABC News’ “This Week” in February that he wasn’t familiar with Caine, who will be subject to “careful review” by the committee.
“There are obviously a great many questions that we’re going to raise with him, but I think we have to give him the opportunity to make his case and also to make clear that he is going to be willing to speak truth to power, willing to give his best military advice to the president, not just tell the president what he wants to hear — and also to be open and share with the Congress the facts on the ground, not be a political spokesperson for the president. So those are part of the issues that we’ll address as we go forward,” Reed said.
Barring a poor performance at the hearing or unflattering revelations about his prior conduct, it’s likely that Caine will be confirmed. Trump’s most controversial nominee for a top Pentagon post during his second term, Pete Hegseth, narrowly won confirmation as secretary of defense in January despite unanimous opposition from Democrats in the Senate.
After recently meeting with Caine, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement saying the nominee had his full support and would help “Make Our Military Great Again” as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
