Thousands deployed as retired Gen. Brown warns of politicization

Retired Gen. CQ Brown, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued his most direct critique of the Trump administration's handling of the armed forces, warning that domestic troop deployments and personnel purges risk compromising the military's apolitical tradition.

Brown, who was removed from his post by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in February 2025, published an essay in Foreign Affairs on Friday and spoke at the Aspen Institute the prior week. In both forums, he questioned the administration's decision to deploy thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and Portland, Oregon, as a public show of force against crime.

"Resorting to a military solution rather than fixing the underlying incapacity or dysfunction in civilian institutions diverts the military from focusing on its primary combat mission," Brown wrote in the essay, co-authored with Duke University professor Peter Feaver, a former National Security Council official under President George W. Bush, and lawyer Andrew Kragie.

The deployments marked one of the most expansive uses of active-duty and National Guard forces inside US borders in recent decades. The Trump administration ended its National Guard deployments in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland after legal challenges, though troops remain on patrol in Washington. The last comparable domestic deployment of this scale occurred during the 2020 civil unrest, when roughly 25,000 National Guard members were activated across 23 states.

Personnel Purge Raises Merit Concerns

Beyond the troop deployments, Brown voiced alarm over the Pentagon's moves to strike officers from military promotion lists and push senior personnel into retirement. Gen. Chris Donahue, the top Army officer in Europe, officially relinquished his post Thursday after the Pentagon downgraded his command.

"What is starting to happen now, it is not about merit," Brown said at the Aspen Institute discussion on civil-military relations. "All of these people who are being removed are very well experienced." He added that the personnel decisions were spurring doubts among active-duty service members about whether they would have a "fair opportunity to advance in their career going forward."

Hegseth, in his 2024 book "The War on Warriors," questioned whether Brown was selected for the top military post because he was Black. Brown, a former fighter pilot, was nominated by Trump in 2020 to serve as Air Force chief of staff — the first African American to hold that role — and was later elevated to chairman of the Joint Chiefs by former President Joe Biden, becoming the second Black general to hold the post after Colin Powell.

Frank Kendall, who served as Air Force secretary under Biden, described Brown as "the model of an apolitical military professional" and said he was speaking out of concern for the institution.

What's at Stake for Civil-Military Relations

Brown's critique comes at a moment when the military's role in American society faces renewed scrutiny. The Pentagon's anti-DEI purge in 2025 swept through military websites, removing pages on the Tuskegee Airmen, Jackie Robinson and Native American code talkers before restoring some after public outcry. The system even flagged the Enola Gay bomber because its name contained the word "gay."

Brown did not criticize Trump by name or mention Hegseth in his Foreign Affairs essay, maintaining the measured tone that has defined his public remarks. His predecessor, Gen. Mark Milley, took a sharper approach in his 2023 exit speech, saying troops take an oath to the Constitution and do not report to a "wannabe dictator" — a reference to Trump.

The risk, Brown argued, is that politicization erodes the trust that underpins the military's effectiveness. "If you ask too much of the military, you risk the entire enterprise," he wrote, invoking George Washington's warning against using the armed forces to resolve political impasses.

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