As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine has been drafting army choices for potentially striking Iran, a gradual stream of high officers from the Army, Navy and Air Force have been quietly summoned instantly to his workplace.
Typically, delicate army operations are debated within the extremely fortified convention room within the Pentagon generally known as the Tank. But in an administration that’s centered on avoiding leaks, Caine — who can also be identified for his intensive secrecy — apprehensive that assembling the highest brass within the Defense Department’s nerve heart on very quick discover would draw suspicion, in accordance to a number of sources acquainted with the matter.
In these conferences and others on the Pentagon, Caine has been vocal in regards to the potential downsides of launching a serious army operation focusing on Iran, elevating considerations in regards to the scale, complexity and potential for US casualties of such a mission, in accordance to sources acquainted with his recommendation.
Those considerations haven’t matched the rhetoric popping out of the White House, the place President Donald Trump has been bullish on how simply the US army may obtain victory, although the precise dimensions of that success haven’t been outlined.
But Caine is decided to avoid what he believes have been the errors of considered one of his predecessors, Gen. Mark Milley, and preserve his affect with Trump, in accordance to sources acquainted with his considering.
Milley often clashed directly with Trump throughout his first time period on points comparable to deploying the army domestically to quell protests, and typically undermined Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric privately to reassure nervous allies and foes.
For Caine, avoiding the Milley method has meant being extra reserved round Trump, and avoiding weighing in too instantly on choices, together with what to do in Iran. It’s a tightrope that Caine has been making an attempt to stroll throughout his 12 months as Trump’s high army adviser – avoid direct conflict with a notoriously mercurial president, while nonetheless offering skilled army steerage.
Some say Caine hasn’t been assertive sufficient with Trump. “He’s definitely pulling punches,” a supply acquainted with Caine’s interactions with Trump stated when evaluating his White House conversations with his non-public discussions with army leaders.
Despite any considerations Caine has raised internally, during the last month he has additionally orchestrated assembling the largest collection of US military hardware assembled within the Middle East for the reason that invasion of Iraq.
This account of Caine’s efforts to navigate his tenure as chairman relies on interviews with 10 present and former officers.
Joint workers spokesperson Joe Holstead advised NCS in a press release 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 stated. “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 hung out as a army liaison to the CIA, not often divulges his private opinions on a coverage, and his supporters say he’s doing precisely what a md is meant to do — give the president the very best army recommendation that can facilitate his agenda, insurance policies the nation’s high basic has no enterprise dictating.
Trump has pushed Caine for weeks to develop a variety of army plans, which now embrace all the pieces from strikes on Iranian ballistic missile and nuclear amenities to wiping out Iran’s high management as a method to drive regime change. Those choices are being deliberate in parallel with diplomatic talks set for their subsequent change on Thursday.
But in a Situation Room assembly final week about plans for Iran that went 3 times longer than scheduled, Caine was unable to predict what the results of a regime change operation can be, sources stated. Caine had appeared extra assured a number of months in the past in regards to the success of such a mission in Venezuela, whose chief was captured by the US army in a swift and decisive operation in January.
It’s a part of Caine’s delicate balancing act, telling folks privately that he desires to restore belief in his place because the nation’s high basic and within the army extra broadly at the same time as Trump has politicized each.
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 stated. “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 labored onerous in his time as chairman to be certain that he has Trump’s ear, at one level even attempting to safe an workplace on the White House so he may temporary the president extra usually and have a extremely safe area to work from when he’s there, in accordance to folks acquainted with the matter.
A soft-spoken and self-deprecating airman who spent a lot of his profession within the secretive world of spies and particular operators, Caine is a member of Trump’s most-trusted internal circle, which incorporates Vice President JD Vance; Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Susie Wiles, the White House chief of workers. He is much more trusted by Trump than Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, a number of folks acquainted with their relationship stated, significantly when it comes to delicate operational issues.
If Hegseth is pissed off with Caine, there’s little he can do about it. “Caine has a direct line to Trump,” stated one of many folks acquainted 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 considerations in regards to the fallout of a possible main army operation in Iran started to make their method to the press, Trump took to social media Monday to reinforce his religion 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 requested about Caine’s deliberations on Iran, Holstead stated Caine “does not advocate for a single course of action, nor does he inject personal preference into operational deliberations.”
A just lately retired senior officer who beforehand labored with Caine advised NCS that officers puzzled why he’d been chosen within the first place, when there’s “obviously some expectation of loyalty” by Trump, and Caine shouldn’t be the kind to prioritize that over his loyalty to his oath as an officer.
“Caine is a person of high emotional intelligence,” the just lately retired senior officer stated, “because he hasn’t gotten sideways with anyone, and he’s generally recognized as a team player.”
One official who’s labored with Caine put it merely: “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 occasion had the potential to veer into deeply political territory—one thing he’d promised Congress throughout his affirmation hearings that he would guard towards.
So he privately gave the assembled generals and admirals recommendation he knew Hegseth and Trump may not like, in accordance to folks acquainted with his remarks, together with two army officers shut to Caine: Don’t cheer, don’t react, and act as stoic as you’ll on the president’s annual State of the Union tackle, in protecting with the norms of a nonpartisan army.
He then launched Hegseth and Trump, saying it was “vital” to hear from them. Trump appeared irked by the generals’ lack of response. “I’ve never walked into a room so silent before,” he stated. “If you want to applaud, you applaud.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell disputed this account of Caine’s actions earlier than Trump’s speech.
“There is no tension between these great leaders,” he stated. “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 changing into the nation’s high basic and sharing a stage with Trump was extremely uncommon. He retired in December 2024 as a three-star lieutenant basic however was recalled to energetic service by Trump regardless of by no means having led a combatant command or serving as a service chief. That is how most earlier chairmen have acquired their fourth star, earlier than being elevated to the function of the US’ most senior army officer. In the tip, Caine was promoted forward of 38 eligible energetic obligation four-star generals and admirals.
In Trump’s telling, Caine had proven he was dedicated to the president after 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 sporting a MAGA hat.
Caine stated throughout his affirmation listening to final 12 months that the incident had never happened. He additionally stated that defending towards the politicization of the army “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 but, at the same time as Trump has usually pushed the legal limits of how the US army may be deployed — sending troops into American cities over the objections of governors, bombing suspected drug traffickers within the Caribbean and Pacific, and attacking Iran and Venezuela with out congressional authorization — Caine has dutifully given him choices to execute these operations, sources advised NCS.
“Milley always wanted to be seen as the adult in the room, protecting the world from our democratically elected president,” stated one Republican congressional aide. “It struck me as wildly inappropriate.”
Caine works carefully with probably the most politically polarizing figures within the Trump administration, Trump’s deputy chief of workers for coverage Stephen Miller, on how to finest perform the US army’s operations contained in the US and round Latin America, the sources stated. Miller typically telephones Caine instantly, asking for methods to put a plan into motion.
Caine’s cautious planning to ship choices and never push choices stands in distinction to the way in which Trump now views Milley, whose portrait was taken down from a wall within the Pentagon on day one of many administration and had his safety element revoked by Hegseth — on Trump’s orders — days later.
Defense officers broadly see Caine as a helpful counterbalance to Hegseth, whose inexperience and deal with tradition war points contrasts with Caine’s lengthy army profession and operational expertise.
One instance officers level to got here in September, when Caine hand-delivered memos to Hegseth and the Pentagon’s coverage chief Elbridge Colby outlining his disagreements over the brand new National Defense Strategy that Colby’s workplace had drafted, one of many sources stated. Among Caine’s considerations with the doc, which prioritizes homeland protection and the western hemisphere, was that it underplayed the risk posed by China and the US army’s want to put together for a possible future conflict within the Indo-Pacific, sources stated.
A senior protection official declined to affirm that Caine had raised points with the technique, however stated “the instances as you described them would simply be those of a Chairman and the Joint Chiefs doing their jobs.”
Caine additionally appeared skeptical early on of the effectiveness of the US army’s extraordinarily costly operation, championed by Hegseth, to counter the Iran-backed Houthi insurgent group in Yemen final 12 months. He finally advisable to Trump that the campaign be wound down, the sources stated, and the president introduced shortly thereafter that the US had reached a ceasefire deal with the Houthis.
Nonetheless, Caine’s reticence to strongly ship his opinion on sure points has left many army officers struggling to perceive the place he stands, particularly contemplating the variety of senior army officers who’ve been pressured out for disagreeing with Trump and Hegseth.
Last fall, Hegseth summoned then-US Southern Command Commander Adm. Alvin Holsey to a gathering with him and Caine. The assembly was tense — Hegseth didn’t consider Holsey was shifting rapidly or aggressively sufficient to fight drug traffickers within the Caribbean, and he complained about not being given the data he wanted about operations there, sources stated. But SOUTHCOM was involved in regards to the operations not being lawful. Caine remained largely quiet in the course of the assembly, sources stated.
Ultimately, Hegseth ousted Holsey, who retired early and just one year into his tenure as commander. But underscoring the persistent balancing act he’s performed, Caine then presided over Holsey’s retirement ceremony and showered him with reward, in what some officers perceived as a delicate act of protest towards Hegseth’s determination.
“It’s never been about you, it’s been about people, it’s been about others,” Caine stated 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 earlier chairmen, Caine has averted interacting with the press and has spoken publicly solely from podiums. Late final 12 months, some officers who work carefully with Caine advised he start cultivating his personal public persona, folks acquainted with the matter stated.
Caine has resisted that, preferring to keep as invisible as possible. But Trump has undoubtedly pushed him to the bounds of his consolation zone. The most blatant instance of this got here final June, when Trump demanded Caine and Hegseth give a press convention aimed largely at discrediting an early Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that had downplayed the long-term affect of the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear amenities.
Trump had touted the assault as a “total obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear program.
Hegseth spent many of the press convention attacking the press for reporting on the evaluation. But Caine pivoted, as a substitute selecting to give a technical rationalization of the bombings — full with graphics of the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators used to hit the amenities — and the pilots who dropped the munitions from B-2 bombers following an 18-hour flight from Missouri to Iran.
Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff stated on Saturday, nevertheless, that Iran is now “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bombmaking material.”
Caine was additionally thrust entrance and heart after the US army operation to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from his compound in Caracas within the early hours of January 3.
Caine’s abstract of the operation throughout a press convention the subsequent day learn like a screenplay for an motion film, describing American helicopters and troops coming below fireplace each as they approached Maduro’s compound in the dark and as they extracted him out to an plane service within the Caribbean.
“I want to thank General “Raizin” Caine,” Trump stated on the press convention. “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 trade occasions, Caine has maintained a really low profile. Hegseth has made it clear that he doesn’t need Caine interacting with reporters with out his signoff, sources stated. The Joint Staff is now required to get permission from the secretary’s workplace earlier than talking to the media, and reporters not journey with the chairman, in a break with custom.
Caine obliges Hegseth’s requests, largely as a result of he has spent months attempting to restore the joint workers’s relationship with the protection secretary. Prior to Caine’s affirmation in April, Hegseth harbored deep suspicions that the Joint Staff was leaking info to make him and his workforce look unhealthy.
Still, some officers consider Caine has typically gone too far in his efforts to please Hegseth and level to one episode final October.
That month, Caine rushed to get recertified to fly the F-16 fighter jet — together with making room in his schedule for frequent flight coaching at Joint Base Andrews, in accordance to an individual with data of the scenario — in order that he may fly alongside Hegseth within the jets while visiting Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada, the place he’d accomplished Air Force Weapons School many years earlier. The chairman moved ahead with the occasion regardless of the federal government shutting down and all these required to assist the journey having to go with out pay, this particular person stated.
The greatest supply of rigidity between Caine and Hegseth has been over personnel, a number of sources stated, and Caine has routinely misplaced these battles with the secretary. Caine tried to persuade Hegseth not to push out a number of senior army officers final 12 months, together with the previous director of the Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Doug Sims and the previous director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, who Hegseth accused of leaking towards him and being insufficiently aligned with his agenda, sources stated. Both have been pressured to retire early.
Caine has tried to enchantment to Hegseth, telling him the abrupt and seemingly retributive firings, the delayed promotions, and the pressured retirements which have seen dozens of high generals and admirals pushed out haven’t been good for the secretary’s standing with the drive, the sources stated.
The transfer to relieve senior army officers over their perceived alignment with a political agenda or different unspecified causes has been difficult for Caine and different leaders within the companies, the just lately retired senior officer stated. But finally it falls again on the constitutional principal of civilian management of the army, whether or not the army likes their choices 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’d kind of a tough situation,” the just lately retired officer stated. “But I do think there’s moral injury taking place with our senior leaders.”