Lt. Gen. John Caine (Retired), testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to examine his nomination to be promoted to general and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of Defense, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, told senators Tuesday that he understands he is an unknown and unconventional nominee — but that the U.S. is facing unconventional and unprecedented threats and he is ready to serve in its defense.

At his confirmation hearing to become the top U.S. military officer, he said he would be candid in his advice to Trump and vowed to be apolitical. While Caine stopped short of criticizing top leaders for using a Signal chat to discuss plans for an attack against Yemen's Houthi rebels, he told senators during questioning that he always communicates in proper channels.

Caine, who was not part of the Signal chat and deferred on many questions about the controversy, said that if he found himself in situations where classified information was being posted inappropriately, he "would weigh in and stop it.”

Caine was nominated after Trump fired Gen. CQ Brown Jr., seen by the administration as endorsing diversity, equity and inclusion contrary to the president's agenda. He had been the second Black general to serve as chairman. The firing raised concerns among Democrats that Trump was politicizing the military, and many of the questions Caine faced before the Senate Armed Services Committee centered on that topic.

He was asked how he would react if ordered to direct the military to do something potentially illegal, such as being used against civilians in domestic law enforcement. “Will you stand up and push back?” Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin asked.

“Senator, I think that's the duty and the job that I have, yes,” Caine said.

Sen. Roger Wicker, Republican chairman of the committee, said he's convinced Caine sees the job as nonpartisan.

"We can argue politics up here on the dais, but I expect General Caine to stay out of it no matter the subject,” he said.

Caine disputes MAGA hat story

Caine sought to assure lawmakers of his approach to readying the nation for future wars. He said his military experience, which included seeing fellow service members die, has shaped his views on when to use force and “the importance of carefully considering the use of that force."

Caine also for the first time publicly denied that he had ever worn a MAGA hat. Trump has told a story about Caine saying he wore one of the hats when the two met some years ago.

When asked during the hearing, Caine said, “For 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of office and my commitment to my commission. And I have never worn any political merchandise.”

He said Trump must have been “talking about somebody else.”

Questions on attack plans sent in Signal

Caine was asked about senior national security officials using a Signal chat to communicate about airstrikes against Yemen's Houthis. In the chat, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted tactical details before the operation had launched. The chat mistakenly included a journalist but did not involve the acting head of the Joint Chiefs, Adm. Christopher Grady.

“From what I understand of that chat, it was a partisan political chat, and so the joint force should not have been represented,” Caine said.

Caine declined to comment on whether senior U.S. officials who were in the chat — among them the vice president, defense secretary, secretary of state and national security adviser — should have discussed battle plans on an unclassified, commercial application.

“What I will say is we should always preserve the element of surprise,” Caine said.

He's asked about the military being used for law enforcement

Caine also was asked how he would prevent the military from getting drawn into domestic law enforcement missions, such as helping detain migrants in the country illegally.

The military has supported Trump's effort to increase deportations and border protection by conducting flights and surveillance or bolstering sections of the border wall. Federal troops are prohibited by the Posse Comitatus Act from conducting civilian law enforcement except in some emergencies.

“I think that there's strong systems in place, legal systems in place that prevent any missteps there,” Caine said. He said he has “no reason to believe at this point that those are insufficient in any way.”

Trump's top military adviser

While Caine would be the military’s top uniformed officer, his chief duty would be serving as the president’s primary military adviser.

That role “starts with being a good example from the top and making sure that we are nonpartisan and apolitical and speaking the truth to power," Caine said.

During his first term, Trump's relationship with then-Chairman Gen. Mark Milley soured as Milley pushed back and took steps to try to prevent what he saw as an attempt to politicize the office. He would remind military service members that they took an oath to the Constitution, not to a president.

Within hours of Trump's inauguration in January, Milley's portrait as chairman of the Joint Chiefs was removed from the Pentagon. Milley's security clearance and security detail also was revoked.

Because he retired in December, Caine would need to be sworn back into active duty. That would take place after he is confirmed, and then he would be promoted to four-star general, said a former U.S. official who has helped Caine prepare for the confirmation process and spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details on Caine’s nomination.

Caine is a decorated F-16 combat pilot who served in leadership in multiple special operations commands, in some of the Pentagon’s most classified programs and in the CIA.

While Caine does not meet prerequisites for the job set out in a 1986 law — such as being a combatant commander or service chief — those requirements can be waived by the president and lawmakers noted his decades of service.

Caine has more than 2,800 flying hours in the F-16 and has earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bronze Star Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster, among other awards.

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Associated Press writer Matt Brown in Washington contributed to this report.

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