US President Donald Trump has fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Brown, according to a post he posted on Truth Social.
"I want to thank General Charles Brown for his more than 40 years of service to our country, including as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a fine gentleman and an exceptional leader, and I wish him and his family a great future," the White House host said.
He also said he was nominating U.S. Air Force General Dan Kane as a candidate for the position.
“General Kane is an experienced pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur and “warrior“ with significant experience in special operations,“ Trump added.
The U.S. Department of Defense plans to lay off 5,400 civilian employees who are on probation next week. This was stated in a statement issued by the Pentagon on Friday.
“We will then pause hiring while we conduct an additional review of our staffing needs,“ the statement said.
To increase efficiency, the Pentagon expects to reduce the department's civilian staff by 5-8%. According to The Washington Post, the number of civilian employees in the Department of Defense is about 900,000 people, so the mentioned measures could affect "tens of thousands of employees".
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the Pentagon will give the Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to systems to identify "fraud, waste and abuse". The measures are aimed at identifying excessive spending and optimizing funding priorities.
Earlier, Hegseth ordered the development of a plan to reduce the Defense Department budget by 8% annually over the next five years.
After taking office on January 20, US President Donald Trump appointed Elon Musk as the head of DOGE. This structure has begun a large-scale revision of the country's budget expenditures. In general, Musk expects to reduce government spending by $ 2 trillion.