Dan Caine

Military service and training (1990–2024)

Caine was commissioned as a second lieutenant through the Virginia Military Institute's Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps in October 1990,^[9][12] and was inducted into the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.^[5][11] He completed the program as a distinguished graduate in December 1993,^[11] but because the Air Force was being downsized around that time he was concerned that he might end up with a non-flying job.^[5] To avoid this he applied to a large number of Air National Guard units,^[5] and was selected to be an F-16 pilot in the 138th Fighter Squadron at the Syracuse New York Air National Guard Base. Caine had that assignment from January 1994 to July 1998, and was also the squadron's chief of training and chief of weapons at different times.^[11]

In 1998, he completed the Squadron Officer School by correspondence. From July 1998 to January 1999, he was an F-16 instructor pilot and the chief of weapons for the 121st Fighter Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. Caine underwent further F-16 training at the USAF Weapons School, at its main location of Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and graduated from its Instructor Course in June 1999 as an outstanding graduate.^[11]

After his graduation from the USAF Weapons School he returned to his previous role with the 121st Fighter Squadron.^[11] Caine was among the pilots who patrolled Washington, D.C. airspace, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks^[13][14] as the chief of weapons and tactics for the squadron.^[15] From November 2001 to February 2002 he was the chief of group weapons and tactics for the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing in Kuwait and until January 2003 he was a counter-SCUD project officer for U.S. Central Command, at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.^[11] During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Caine developed a plan to counter Scud missiles possessed by Iraqi forces.^[16]

Caine was the chief of weapons and tactics for the 410th Air Expeditionary Wing until May 2003, when he was assigned to the Test Center at the Tucson Air National Guard Base, Arizona, as its head of operations. He held that position until August 2005, and in 2004 he completed the Air Command and Staff College by correspondence.^[11] Starting in 2005 he worked at the White House, and from October 2006 to January 2008 Caine was the policy director for counterterrorism and strategy at the Homeland Security Council. From January to July 2008 he was back in Iraq as the commander of the Joint Special Operations Task Force – Air Directorate.^[11]

In July 2008, he became an instructor pilot at the 121st Fighter Squadron and a Special Tactics Air Liaison Officer at the 24th Special Tactics Squadron of the Air Force Special Operations Command, remaining in those roles until 2010.^[11] Caine was a part-time member of the Air National Guard from 2009 to 2016^[3] and held several senior positions in the District of Columbia ANG.^[11]

After returning to active duty, he was simultaneously an assistant to the vice commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command and the assistant CG of the Joint Special Operations Command from 2016 to 2018. Caine completed the Joint and Combined Warfighting Course in 2017.^[11] He simultaneously served as a deputy CG of Special Operations Command Central and of the special operations joint task force in Operation Inherent Resolve, the campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, from 2018 to 2019. After that Caine was the director of special-access programs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment from 2019 to 2021. Caine was promoted to three-star lieutenant general in 2021, and served as the CIA's associate director for military affairs from November 2021^[17] until December 2024.^[2]

As of February 2025, Caine has 150 combat hours and two tours in Iraq.^[18] He has a total of 2,800 flight hours, including more than 100 combat hours in the F-16.^[19]

Public and private sector (since 2003)

From 2005 to 2006,^[5] as part of the White House Fellows program,^[20] Caine was a special assistant to the United States Secretary of Agriculture^[13] and did work related to the response to Hurricane Katrina.^[5] From 2006 to 2008,^[5] he served within the Homeland Security Council^[13] as a policy director for counterterrorism.^[11]

In 2010 he founded The Caine Group, an investment and consulting firm focusing on national security and homeland security.^[7]

His LinkedIn page notes that he has advised Voyager, a space technology company.^[2][21] In January 2025, he joined Shield Capital, a venture capital firm.^[22] Caine is a partner at Ribbit Capital and an advisor for Thrive Capital.^[15] He was the co-founder and chief operating officer of RISE Air, an airline company acquired by Surf Air in 2017 (unrelated to the Canadian airline Rise Air).^[23] His USAF service biography describes him as a "serial entrepreneur and investor".

Nomination and confirmation

On 21 February 2025, President Donald Trump named Caine as his nominee to replace Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.^[24][18] Speaking at the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said he had met Caine in Iraq in December 2018.^[24] According to Trump, Caine told him, "I love you, sir. I think you're great, sir. I'll kill for you, sir."^[12] Allegedly, he claimed that ISIS could be defeated in a week.^[12] Trump also said that Caine was wearing a MAGA hat at the time, a detail denied by Caine.^[25]

According to The New York Times, Caine met with Trump and vice president JD Vance during the week prior to the announcement of the nomination.^[24] The Times later reported that Caine was considered for the position over Michael Kurilla, the commander of United States Central Command.^[26] Title 10 of the United States Code requires the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to be selected from the officers of the regular components of the armed forces and only if the officer had served as a combatant, unified, or specified commander, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or, if the officer had served as the highest uniformed officer in one of the six military service branches (although that requirement may be waived if "necessary in the national interest").^[24]

Caine's nomination was sent to the Senate on 10 March.^[27] He testified before the Senate Committee on Armed Services on 1 April.^[28] The committee voted to advance his nomination 23–4 on 8 April.^[29] Caine was confirmed on 11 April in a 60–25 vote.^[30] He was promoted to a four-star general prior to the vote.^[31] Caine was sworn in on 14 April.^[32] He is the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who never served at the rank of four-star general or four-star admiral before assuming the position^[2] and the first to have been retired at the time of confirmation. Caine is the second retired general to serve as chairman after Maxwell Taylor in 1962, although Taylor had been recalled to active duty the year prior to his appointment (after he had retired in 1959).^[4] Caine is the first chairman since Hugh Shelton in 1997 who never served within the Joint Chiefs of Staff.^[4] He is the first Air National Guardsman to become chairman.^[29]

Tenure

After being confirmed, Caine made an unannounced visit to the Mexico–United States border during which he met with troops who were taking part in the U.S. Northern Command mission in support of Customs and Border Protection.^[33] In May 2025, Caine attended a NATO summit at the organization's headquarters in Brussels in which he deliberated on bolstering the alliance.^[34] That month, he privately expressed concern that extending the military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen would stress supply of assets he viewed as necessary, contributing to Trump's decision to immediately declare victory.^[35]

In June, Caine appeared before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, offering a view of the Russo-Ukrainian war that suggested that—if victorious—Russian president Vladimir Putin would initiate wars against other countries, refuting Trump's assessment of Putin. Caine rejected Trump's claim that the U.S. was being invaded, the pretense for Trump's 2025 decision to federalize the California National Guard in response to protests in Los Angeles.^[36]

Leading up to the June 2025 Twelve-Day War, Caine and John Ratcliffe, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, gave an assessment to Trump on Israel's imminent attack on Iran from Camp David.^[37] Caine, with Michael Kurilla, the commander of United States Central Command, led plans for the U.S. military to strike at Iranian nuclear sites in 2025.^[38] He appeared with secretary of defense Pete Hegseth to provide details on the strike the following day. Caine's muted description of the strikes contrasted with Hegseth's assertion that mirrored Trump's description that the strikes had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear sites.^[39] At a second press conference with Hegseth days later, Caine focused on the service members responsible for the strike, which was interpreted as seeking to avoid politicizing the military while serving Trump's interests.^[40] According to The Wall Street Journal, the strikes, in addition to his follow-up comments, helped earn Caine the trust of Trump.^[41]

Following the 3 January 2026 U.S. intervention in Venezuela that led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro, Caine appeared alongside Trump and other senior officials in a press conference to report on the operation.^[42] During the Greenland crisis later in January, Trump asked Caine to present potential options and the impacts of using military force to invade and annex Greenland, part of the Kingdom of Denmark, ultimately resulting in Trump deciding against an invasion.^[43]