The highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Quinton Brown Jr., was visiting U.S. troops in Texas, just days after convening with European allies at a defence leaders summit in Germany.
While in his hotel room in El Paso, Texas on Feb. 22, 2025, he received a surprise telephone call from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, informing him that he had been fired by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Brown had served in the military for over 40 years and became chairman on Oct. 1, 2023. The decision to fire Brown, which Trump also shared on from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).