2026-02-25T17:01:33.437Z / CNN
作为参谋长联席会议主席，丹·凯恩将军一直在起草针对伊朗潜在打击的军事方案，同时，陆军、海军和空军的高级官员正源源不断地被直接秘密召至他的办公室。
通常情况下，敏感军事行动会在五角大楼高度设防的”坦克”会议室进行辩论。但据几位知情人士透露，在这个注重避免泄密的政府中，以极度保密著称的凯恩担心，在极短时间内召集国防部核心部门的高层人士会引起怀疑。
据知情人士透露，在这些会议和其他五角大楼会议中，凯恩一直直言不讳地指出针对伊朗发动重大军事行动的潜在弊端，对行动规模、复杂性和可能造成的美国人员伤亡表示担忧。
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这些担忧与白宫的强硬言辞形成对比。在那里，唐纳德·特朗普总统一直高调宣称美军能够轻易取得胜利，尽管具体胜利的定义尚未明确。
但知情人士称，凯恩决心避免重蹈其前任马克·米利将军的覆辙，保持对特朗普的影响力。米利在第一任期内经常就国内部署军队镇压抗议等问题直接与特朗普发生冲突，有时还会私下削弱特朗普的煽动性言论，以安抚紧张的盟友和对手。
对凯恩而言，避免米利的做法意味着在特朗普面前更加谨慎，避免直接干预决策，包括在伊朗问题上的立场。这是凯恩在担任特朗普最高军事顾问一年来一直试图走的钢丝——既要避免与这位以反复无常著称的总统直接冲突，又要提供专业的军事指导。
有人认为凯恩对特朗普不够坚定。”他肯定有所保留，”一位熟悉凯恩与特朗普互动的消息人士在比较他在白宫的谈话和私下与军方领导人的讨论时表示。
尽管凯恩在内部提出了种种担忧，但在过去一个月里，他也精心策划了自伊拉克入侵以来在中东集结的最大规模美国军事装备。
本报道基于对10位现任和前任官员的采访，讲述了凯恩在其任期内的努力与周旋。
联合参谋部发言人乔·霍尔斯特德在给CNN的声明中表示，凯恩”在讨论可能将我们的士兵置于险境的军事方案时，从未’有所保留’”。
“参谋长联席会议主席的角色和这位主席的工作方式，是基于主席向总统、战争部长和国家安全委员会提供军事建议的法定职责，”他说。”这位主席通过向这些领导人提供全方位的军事选择，以及对每个选择的次要影响、含义和风险进行精确而深思熟虑的考虑，来履行这些职责。他这样做是保密的。”
凯恩曾是一名F-16战斗机飞行员，曾担任中央情报局的军事联络官，很少透露他对政策的个人意见。他的支持者表示，他正在做一名主席应该做的事——向总统提供最佳军事建议，以促进其议程，而国家最高将领无权决定这些政策。
特朗普数周来一直催促凯恩制定广泛的军事计划，目前这些计划包括从打击伊朗弹道导弹和核设施到消灭伊朗最高领导层以迫使政权更迭的各种选项。这些选项正在与定于周四进行下一轮外交谈判并行规划。
但在上周关于伊朗计划的 Situation Room 会议上，会议时长比预定的长了三倍，凯恩无法预测政权更迭行动的结果，消息人士称。几个月前，凯恩对在委内瑞拉的类似行动的成功更有信心，而委内瑞拉领导人在1月份被美军迅速果断地捕获。
这是凯恩微妙平衡术的一部分。他私下告诉人们，他希望在特朗普将两者政治化的同时，恢复对自己作为国家最高将领以及更广泛军队的信任。
白宫发言人安娜·凯利在回应本报道的问题时称凯恩是”一位备受尊敬的专业人士，其工作需要向总司令提供无偏见的信息，他做得非常出色。”
“任何暗示主席提供个人或政治意见的说法，无论从哪个角度看，都是完全错误的，”凯利说。”在所有问题上，特朗普总统都会听取其国家安全团队所有成员的反馈，而他始终是最终决策者。”
据了解此事的人士透露，凯恩在担任主席期间一直努力确保自己能得到特朗普的关注，甚至一度试图在白宫获得一个办公室，以便能更频繁地向总统简报，并在那里有一个高度安全的工作空间。
凯恩是个说话温和、自嘲的飞行员，其职业生涯大部分时间都在间谍和特种作战的秘密世界中度过。他是特朗普最信任的核心圈子成员之一，其中包括副总统JD·万斯；国务卿马尔科·卢比奥和白宫办公厅主任苏西·怀尔斯。据多位熟悉他们关系的人士称，在敏感行动问题上，他甚至比国防部长皮特·赫格斯更受特朗普信任。
如果赫格斯对凯恩感到不满，他几乎无能为力。”凯恩与特朗普有直接联系，”一位熟悉这种动态的人士说。”他必须尊重指挥链，但他是总统的人。赫格斯不能把他推到一边。”
当五角大楼对伊朗潜在重大军事行动的后果担忧开始泄露给媒体时，特朗普周一在社交媒体上重申了对凯恩的信任，并明确表示他数周来对打击行动的威胁并非空穴来风。
“凯恩将军和我们所有人一样，不希望看到战争，但如果决定在军事层面对抗伊朗，他认为这将是一件容易取胜的事，”特朗普写道。”他只知道如何取胜，如果他接到命令，他将带领大家冲锋陷阵。”
当被问及凯恩对伊朗的考虑时，霍尔斯特德表示，凯恩”不倡导单一行动路线，也不会在作战审议中注入个人偏好。”
一位最近退休的曾与凯恩共事的高级军官告诉CNN，军官们想知道为什么凯恩一开始会被选中，”显然特朗普期望他忠诚”，而凯恩不是那种会将个人忠诚置于对军官誓言忠诚之上的人。
“凯恩是个情商很高的人，”这位最近退休的高级军官说，”因为他没有与任何人产生矛盾，并且被普遍认为是一个团队合作者。”
一位曾与凯恩共事的官员简单地说：”凯恩是怎么做到这么久的？他是个天才，能让自己在任何场合都成为别人需要的人。”
去年9月，当国防部长皮特·赫格斯突然召集数百名美国最高级军官到弗吉尼亚州，听取他和特朗普的演讲时，凯恩知道这次活动可能会陷入高度政治化的境地——这是他在确认听证会上向国会承诺要防止的事情。
因此，据知情人士透露，他私下给与会的将军和海军上将们提出了一些他知道赫格斯和特朗普可能不喜欢的建议，包括两名与凯恩关系密切的军事官员：不要欢呼，不要反应，要像在总统年度国情咨文演讲中那样保持冷静，以符合无党派军队的规范。
然后他介绍了赫格斯和特朗普，称”有必要”听取他们的意见。特朗普似乎对将军们缺乏反应感到恼怒。”我以前从未走进过如此安静的房间，”他说，”如果你们想鼓掌，就鼓掌。”
五角大楼发言人肖恩·帕内尔驳斥了关于凯恩在特朗普演讲前行为的这一说法。
“这些伟大领袖之间没有紧张关系，”他说。”他们都达成一致，并专注于执行特朗普总统的议程，使我们的军队成为世界上最强大的战斗力量。”
凯恩成为国家最高将领并与特朗普同台的道路非常不寻常。他于2024年12月以三星中将身份退休，但被特朗普召回现役，尽管他从未领导过作战司令部或担任过军种首长。这是大多数前任主席获得四星上将军衔的方式，之后才被提升为美国最高级军事官员。最终，凯恩在38名符合条件的现役四星将军和海军上将中脱颖而出。
据特朗普称，凯恩在2018年他在伊拉克服役期间首次见面时就表现出对总统的忠诚，当时凯恩戴着 MAGA 帽子告诉特朗普，他”爱”他并”愿意为你而战”。
凯恩在去年的确认听证会上表示，这一事件从未发生过。他还表示，抵制军队政治化”始于从高层树立良好榜样，并确保我们每天都无党派、无政治立场地向权力发声。”
然而，尽管特朗普经常越界推动美军部署方式——不顾州长反对向美国城市派遣军队，在加勒比和太平洋地区轰炸涉嫌贩毒者，未经国会授权攻击伊朗和委内瑞拉——凯恩仍尽职尽责地为他提供行动选项，消息人士告诉CNN。
“米利总是希望被视为房间里的成年人，保护世界免受我们民选总统的伤害，”一位共和党国会助手说。”这在我看来是极其不合适的。”
凯恩在特朗普政府中与政治极化人物、特朗普政策副幕僚长斯蒂芬·米勒密切合作，讨论如何最好地在美国国内和拉丁美洲执行美军行动，消息人士称。米勒经常直接打电话给凯恩，询问如何实施计划。
凯恩精心规划以提供选项而非推动决策的做法，与特朗普现在对米利的看法形成鲜明对比。米利的肖像在特朗普政府第一天就被从墙上取下，几天后，他的安全人员也被赫格斯在特朗普的命令下撤销。
国防官员普遍认为凯恩是对赫格斯的有用制衡，赫格斯缺乏经验且专注于文化战争问题，而凯恩拥有长期军事生涯和作战经验。
官员们指出的一个例子是在9月，当时凯恩向赫格斯和五角大楼政策负责人埃尔布里奇·科尔比亲自递送备忘录，概述他对科尔比办公室起草的新《国防战略》的异议，消息人士称。据透露，凯恩对该文件的担忧之一是，它低估了中国构成的威胁以及美军为应对印太地区潜在未来冲突所需的准备。
一位高级国防官员拒绝证实凯恩对该战略提出了异议，但表示”你所描述的情况只是主席和参谋长联席会议履行职责的正常情况。”
凯恩在去年年初也对赫格斯支持的美国军方极其昂贵的行动表示怀疑，该行动旨在对抗伊朗支持的胡塞反叛组织。他最终向特朗普建议终止该行动，总统随后宣布美国与胡塞人达成停火协议。
然而，凯恩在某些问题上不愿强烈表达意见，这让许多军方官员难以理解他的立场，尤其是考虑到已有多名高级军官因反对特朗普和赫格斯而被迫离职。
去年秋天，赫格斯突然召集数百名美国最高级军官前往弗吉尼亚州，听取他和特朗普的演讲。凯恩知道这一事件可能会陷入高度政治化的境地——这是他在确认听证会上向国会承诺要防止的事情。
因此，他私下给与会的将军和海军上将们提出了一些他知道赫格斯和特朗普可能不喜欢的建议，包括两名与凯恩关系密切的军事官员：不要欢呼，不要反应，要像在总统年度国情咨文演讲中那样保持冷静，以符合无党派军队的规范。
然后他介绍了赫格斯和特朗普，称”有必要”听取他们的意见。特朗普似乎对将军们缺乏反应感到恼怒。”我以前从未走进过如此安静的房间，”他说，”如果你们想鼓掌，就鼓掌。”
凯恩的路径
与前任不同，凯恩避免与媒体互动，仅在讲台上公开露面。去年年底，一些与凯恩密切合作的官员建议他开始塑造自己的公众形象，熟悉此事的人说。
凯恩对此持反对态度，宁愿保持尽可能低调。但特朗普无疑将他推到了自己的舒适区的极限。最明显的例子是去年6月，特朗普要求凯恩和赫格斯召开新闻发布会，主要目的是抹黑早期国防情报局对美军打击伊朗核设施长期影响的评估。
特朗普在新闻发布会上吹嘘这次袭击是对伊朗核计划的”彻底摧毁”。
赫格斯在新闻发布会上大部分时间都在攻击媒体报道这一评估。但凯恩转而用技术术语解释轰炸情况，包括使用30,000磅GBU-57巨型钻地弹打击设施的图形，并描述了从密苏里州飞行18小时后从B-2轰炸机上投弹的飞行员。
特朗普的特别代表史蒂夫·维特科夫周六表示，伊朗现在”可能一周内就能生产工业级炸弹制造材料”。
1月3日凌晨美军从委内瑞拉前总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗的官邸将其抓获后，凯恩也成为了焦点。
第二天在新闻发布会上，凯恩对行动的总结就像是动作电影的剧本，描述了美国直升机和部队在深夜接近马杜罗官邸及其撤离到加勒比海航母时均遭到炮火袭击。
“我要感谢’雷兹因’将军凯恩，”特朗普在新闻发布会上说。”他是个了不起的人。我和很多将军打过交道。我和一些我不喜欢的人打过交道，一些我不尊重的人，一些我觉得不好的人，但这个人太出色了。”
除了新闻发布会和行业活动，凯恩一直保持低调。赫格斯明确表示，他不希望凯恩未经他批准就与记者互动，消息人士称。联合参谋部现在必须在与媒体交谈前获得秘书办公室的许可，记者不再随主席同行，这打破了传统。
凯恩遵守赫格斯的要求，主要是因为他花了数月时间试图修复联合参谋部与国防部长的关系。在凯恩4月确认之前，赫格斯一直怀疑联合参谋部泄露信息，使他和他的团队看起来很糟糕。
尽管如此，一些官员认为凯恩在取悦赫格斯的努力中有时走得太远，并指出去年10月的一个事件。
据了解情况的人士称，当月凯恩匆忙重新获得F-16战斗机驾驶资格认证——包括在日程中腾出时间，在安德鲁斯联合基地进行频繁的飞行训练——以便在访问内华达州法伦海军航空站时能与赫格斯一起驾驶战斗机飞行，他几十年前曾在那里完成空军武器学校的课程。尽管政府停摆，所有支持此次行程的人员都无薪工作，主席还是推进了此次活动。
凯恩和赫格斯之间最大的紧张来源是人事问题，多位消息人士称，凯恩在这些斗争中经常失利。凯恩试图说服赫格斯不要解雇几名高级军官，包括前联合参谋部主任道格·西姆斯中将和前联合参谋部战略、计划和政策主任乔·麦吉中将，后者被赫格斯指责向他泄密且与自己的议程不一致，消息人士称。两人都被迫提前退休。
凯恩试图向赫格斯呼吁，告诉他突然且看似报复性的解雇、延迟晋升以及数十名高级将军和海军上将被强制退休的做法，对秘书在军队中的地位不利，消息人士说。
这位最近退休的高级军官表示，解除高级军官职务以应对其与政治议程的关联或其他未指明原因的做法，对凯恩和各军种领导人来说都很有挑战性。但最终这回到了文官控制军队的宪法原则，无论军方是否喜欢这些决定。
“归根结底，像凯恩这样的人和各军种领导人对此并不满意…但[凯恩]明白这是公平的，也是事情的常态。除此之外，还能怎么办呢？这是一个艰难的局面，”这位即将退休的军官说。”但我确实认为我们的高级领导人正遭受道德伤害。”
Balancing act: Top general tries to avoid conflict with Trump while preparing for possible war with Iran
2026-02-25T17:01:33.437Z / CNN
As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine has been drafting military options for potentially striking Iran, a steady stream of top officials from the Army, Navy and Air Force have been quietly summoned directly to his office.
Typically, sensitive military operations are debated in the highly fortified conference room in the Pentagon known as the Tank. But in an administration that is focused on avoiding leaks, Caine — who is also known for his intensive secrecy — worried that assembling the top brass in the Defense Department’s nerve center on very short notice would draw suspicion, according to several sources familiar with the matter.
In those meetings and others at the Pentagon, Caine has been vocal about the potential downsides of launching a major military operation targeting Iran, raising concerns about the scale, complexity and potential for US casualties of such a mission, according to sources familiar with his advice.
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Those concerns have not matched the rhetoric coming out of the White House, where President Donald Trump has been bullish on how easily the US military could achieve victory, though the exact dimensions of that success haven’t been defined.
But Caine is determined to avoid what he believes were the mistakes of one of his predecessors, Gen. Mark Milley, and maintain his influence with Trump, according to sources familiar with his thinking.
Milley often clashed directly with Trump during his first term on issues such as deploying the military domestically to quell protests, and sometimes undermined Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric privately to reassure nervous allies and foes.
For Caine, avoiding the Milley approach has meant being more reserved around Trump, and avoiding weighing in too directly on decisions, including what to do in Iran. It’s a tightrope that Caine has been attempting to walk during his year as Trump’s top military adviser – avoid direct conflict with a notoriously mercurial president, while still providing professional military guidance.
Some say Caine hasn’t been assertive enough with Trump. “He’s definitely pulling punches,” a source familiar with Caine’s interactions with Trump said when comparing his White House conversations with his private discussions with military leaders.
Despite any concerns Caine has raised internally, over the last month he has also orchestrated assembling the largest collection of US military hardware assembled in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq.
This account of Caine’s efforts to navigate his tenure as chairman is based on interviews with 10 current and former officials.
Joint staff spokesperson Joe Holstead told CNN in a statement that Caine “never ‘pulls punches’ when discussing military options which could send our troops into harms way.”
“The role of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the approach of this Chairman is based on the Chairman’s statutory role to provide military advice to the President, the Secretary of War, and the National Security Council,” he said. “This Chairman fulfills these responsibilities by providing these leaders with a full spectrum of military options, along with precise and thoughtful consideration of the secondary effects, implications and risks associated with each option. He does so confidentially.”
Caine, a former F-16 fighter pilot who spent time as a military liaison to the CIA, rarely divulges his personal opinions on a policy, and his supporters say he’s doing exactly what a chairman is supposed to do — give the president the best military advice that will facilitate his agenda, policies the country’s top general has no business dictating.
Trump has pushed Caine for weeks to develop a wide range of military plans, which now include everything from strikes on Iranian ballistic missile and nuclear facilities to wiping out Iran’s top leadership as a way to force regime change. Those options are being planned in parallel with diplomatic talks set for their next exchange on Thursday.
But in a Situation Room meeting last week about plans for Iran that went three times longer than scheduled, Caine was unable to predict what the result of a regime change operation would be, sources said. Caine had seemed more confident several months ago about the success of such a mission in Venezuela, whose leader was captured by the US military in a swift and decisive operation in January.
It’s part of Caine’s delicate balancing act, telling people privately that he wants to restore trust in his position as the country’s top general and in the military more broadly even as Trump has politicized both.
In response to questions for this story, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly described Caine as “a highly respected professional whose job requires providing unbiased information to the Commander in Chief, which he does perfectly.”
“Any suggestion that the Chairman is providing his personal or political opinion, one way or another, is completely false,” Kelly said. “On all issues, President Trump listens to feedback from all members of his national security team, and he is always the final decision maker.”
Caine has worked hard in his time as chairman to make sure he has Trump’s ear, at one point even trying to secure an office at the White House so he could brief the president more regularly and have a highly secure space to work from when he’s there, according to people familiar with the matter.
A soft-spoken and self-deprecating airman who spent much of his career in the secretive world of spies and special operators, Caine is a member of Trump’s most-trusted inner circle, which includes Vice President JD Vance; Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff. He is even more trusted by Trump than Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, multiple people familiar with their relationship said, particularly when it comes to sensitive operational matters.
If Hegseth is frustrated with Caine, there is little he can do about it. “Caine has a direct line to Trump,” said one of the people familiar with the dynamic. “He has to respect the chain of command, but he’s the president’s guy. Hegseth can’t just shove him in a corner.”
As Pentagon concerns about the fallout of a potential major military operation in Iran began to make their way to the press, Trump took to social media Monday to reinforce his faith in Caine and to make it clear his weeks of threats of strikes haven’t been empty.
“General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won,” Trump wrote. “He only knows one thing, how to WIN and, if he is told to do so, he will be leading the pack.”
When asked about Caine’s deliberations on Iran, Holstead said Caine “does not advocate for a single course of action, nor does he inject personal preference into operational deliberations.”
A recently retired senior officer who previously worked with Caine told CNN that officers wondered why he’d been chosen in the first place, when there’s “obviously some expectation of loyalty” by Trump, and Caine is not the type to prioritize that over his loyalty to his oath as an officer.
“Caine is a person of high emotional intelligence,” the recently retired senior officer said, “because he hasn’t gotten sideways with anyone, and he’s generally recognized as a team player.”
One official who’s worked with Caine put it simply: “How has Caine made it this long? He is a genius at getting himself to be the person someone needs him to be in any setting.”
Last September, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth abruptly summoned hundreds of the most senior US military officers to Virginia to hear him and Trump give a speech, Caine knew the event had the potential to veer into deeply political territory—something he’d promised Congress during his confirmation hearings that he would guard against.
So he privately gave the assembled generals and admirals advice he knew Hegseth and Trump might not like, according to people familiar with his remarks, including two military officials close to Caine: Don’t cheer, don’t react, and act as stoic as you would at the president’s annual State of the Union address, in keeping with the norms of a nonpartisan military.
He then introduced Hegseth and Trump, saying it was “vital” to hear from them. Trump seemed irked by the generals’ lack of reaction. “I’ve never walked into a room so silent before,” he said. “If you want to applaud, you applaud.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell disputed this account of Caine’s actions before Trump’s speech.
“There is no tension between these great leaders,” he said. “They are both in agreement and focused on executing President Trump’s agenda to make our military the greatest fighting force in the world.”
Caine’s path to becoming the country’s top general and sharing a stage with Trump was highly unusual. He retired in December 2024 as a three-star lieutenant general but was recalled to active service by Trump despite never having led a combatant command or serving as a service chief. That is how most previous chairmen have received their fourth star, before being elevated to the role of the US’ most senior military officer. In the end, Caine was promoted ahead of 38 eligible active duty four-star generals and admirals.
In Trump’s telling, Caine had shown he was committed to the president when they first met in 2018 while Caine was serving in Iraq, with Caine telling Trump that he “loved” him and would “kill for you” while wearing a MAGA hat.
Caine said during his confirmation hearing last year that the incident had never happened. He also said that defending against the politicization of the military “starts with being a good example from the top and making sure that we are nonpartisan and apolitical and speaking the truth to power every day.”
And yet, even as Trump has regularly pushed the legal limits of how the US military can be deployed — sending troops into American cities over the objections of governors, bombing suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific, and attacking Iran and Venezuela without congressional authorization — Caine has dutifully given him options to execute these operations, sources told CNN.
“Milley always wanted to be seen as the adult in the room, protecting the world from our democratically elected president,” said one Republican congressional aide. “It struck me as wildly inappropriate.”
Caine works closely with one of the most politically polarizing figures in the Trump administration, Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, on how to best carry out the US military’s operations inside the US and around Latin America, the sources said. Miller often phones Caine directly, asking for ways to put a plan into action.
Caine’s careful planning to deliver options and not push decisions stands in contrast to the way Trump now views Milley, whose portrait was taken down from a wall in the Pentagon on day one of the administration and had his security detail revoked by Hegseth — on Trump’s orders — days later.
Defense officials broadly see Caine as a useful counterbalance to Hegseth, whose inexperience and focus on culture war issues contrasts with Caine’s long military career and operational experience.
One example officials point to came in September, when Caine hand-delivered memos to Hegseth and the Pentagon’s policy chief Elbridge Colby outlining his disagreements over the new National Defense Strategy that Colby’s office had drafted, one of the sources said. Among Caine’s concerns with the document, which prioritizes homeland defense and the western hemisphere, was that it underplayed the threat posed by China and the US military’s need to prepare for a potential future conflict in the Indo-Pacific, sources said.
A senior defense official declined to confirm that Caine had raised issues with the strategy, but said “the instances as you described them would simply be those of a Chairman and the Joint Chiefs doing their jobs.”
Caine also appeared skeptical early on of the effectiveness of the US military’s extremely expensive operation, championed by Hegseth, to counter the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen last year. He ultimately recommended to Trump that the campaign be wound down, the sources said, and the president announced shortly thereafter that the US had reached a ceasefire deal with the Houthis.
Nonetheless, Caine’s reticence to strongly deliver his opinion on certain issues has left many military officials struggling to understand where he stands, especially considering the number of senior military officials who have been forced out for disagreeing with Trump and Hegseth.
Last fall, Hegseth summoned then-US Southern Command Commander Adm. Alvin Holsey to a meeting with him and Caine. The meeting was tense — Hegseth did not believe Holsey was moving quickly or aggressively enough to combat drug traffickers in the Caribbean, and he complained about not being given the information he needed about operations there, sources said. But SOUTHCOM was concerned about the operations not being lawful. Caine remained largely quiet during the meeting, sources said.
Ultimately, Hegseth ousted Holsey, who retired early and just one year into his tenure as commander. But underscoring the persistent balancing act he’s played, Caine then presided over Holsey’s retirement ceremony and showered him with praise, in what some officials perceived as a subtle act of protest against Hegseth’s decision.
“It’s never been about you, it’s been about people, it’s been about others,” Caine said of Holsey at his ceremony. “You’ve never said ‘I’ in all the conversations we’ve had. You’ve always said ‘we.’ … The impact you’ve had will last for a long time.”
Unlike previous chairmen, Caine has avoided interacting with the press and has spoken publicly only from podiums. Late last year, some officials who work closely with Caine suggested he begin cultivating his own public persona, people familiar with the matter said.
Caine has resisted that, preferring to stay as invisible as possible. But Trump has undoubtedly pushed him to the limits of his comfort zone. The most obvious example of this came last June, when Trump demanded Caine and Hegseth give a press conference aimed largely at discrediting an early Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that had downplayed the long-term impact of the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Trump had touted the attack as a “total obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear program.
Hegseth spent most of the press conference attacking the press for reporting on the assessment. But Caine pivoted, instead choosing to give a technical explanation of the bombings — complete with graphics of the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators used to hit the facilities — and the pilots who dropped the munitions from B-2 bombers following an 18-hour flight from Missouri to Iran.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Saturday, however, that Iran is now “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bombmaking material.”
Caine was also thrust front and center after the US military operation to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from his compound in Caracas in the early hours of January 3.
Caine’s summary of the operation during a press conference the next day read like a screenplay for an action movie, describing American helicopters and troops coming under fire both as they approached Maduro’s compound in the dead of night and as they extracted him out to an aircraft carrier in the Caribbean.
“I want to thank General “Raizin” Caine,” Trump said at the press conference. “He’s a fantastic man. I’ve worked with a lot of generals. I worked with some I didn’t like, I worked with some I didn’t respect, I worked with some that just weren’t good, but this guy is fantastic.”
Apart from his appearances at press conferences and industry events, Caine has maintained a very low profile. Hegseth has made it clear that he does not want Caine interacting with reporters without his signoff, sources said. The Joint Staff is now required to get permission from the secretary’s office before speaking to the media, and reporters no longer travel with the chairman, in a break with tradition.
Caine obliges Hegseth’s requests, largely because he has spent months trying to repair the joint staff’s relationship with the defense secretary. Prior to Caine’s confirmation in April, Hegseth harbored deep suspicions that the Joint Staff was leaking information to make him and his team look bad.
Still, some officials believe Caine has sometimes gone too far in his efforts to please Hegseth and point to one episode last October.
That month, Caine rushed to get recertified to fly the F-16 fighter jet — including making room in his schedule for frequent flight training at Joint Base Andrews, according to a person with knowledge of the situation — so that he could fly alongside Hegseth in the jets while visiting Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada, where he’d completed Air Force Weapons School decades earlier. The chairman moved forward with the event despite the government shutting down and all those required to support the trip having to go without pay, this person said.
The biggest source of tension between Caine and Hegseth has been over personnel, multiple sources said, and Caine has routinely lost those battles with the secretary. Caine tried to convince Hegseth not to push out several senior military officials last year, including the former director of the Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Doug Sims and the former director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, who Hegseth accused of leaking against him and being insufficiently aligned with his agenda, sources said. Both were forced to retire early.
Caine has tried to appeal to Hegseth, telling him the abrupt and seemingly retributive firings, the delayed promotions, and the forced retirements that have seen dozens of top generals and admirals pushed out have not been good for the secretary’s standing with the force, the sources said.
The move to relieve senior military officers over their perceived alignment with a political agenda or other unspecified reasons has been challenging for Caine and other leaders in the services, the recently retired senior officer said. But ultimately it falls back on the constitutional principal of civilian control of the military, whether the military likes their decisions or not.
“At the end of the day, guys like Caine and service leaders haven’t been happy about it …. but [Caine] understands it’s fair and it’s just the way of things. To do anything else, it’s like, what else are you going to do? It’s kind of a tough situation,” the recently retired officer said. “But I do think there’s moral injury taking place with our senior leaders.”
