The retired Air Force general announced as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President Donald Trump after the abrupt Friday night firing of his predecessor is a respected career F-16 pilot who is described by current and former officials who served with him as a professional with a “strong moral center.

N.J., said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s firing of Gen. CQ Brown Jr. from his role as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sends “a dangerous message to the military” on political loyalty to the president.

Caine, a three-star general whom Trump has praised since at least 2019, helped lead an operation in Iraq against the Islamic State during Trump’s first term.