US President Joe Biden will announce on Thursday May 25 his intention to appoint General Charles Brown, who currently commands the Air Force, to the top of the US military hierarchy, according to his official program published by the White House. He would succeed Mark Milley , the current Chief of Staff, in office since October 1, 2019.

CQ Brown, if his nomination is confirmed by the Senate, would be the second African-American to serve as the highest ranking officer in the most powerful army in the world, after Colin Powell in the 1990s. an equally black Minister of Defense: Lloyd Austin. The current boss of the US Air Force is an experienced former pilot with 3,000 flight hours, including 130 combat. Brigade leader, he was then commander of the American air forces in the Middle East and in the Pacific.

The general had been noticed in the summer of 2020, in the midst of the “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations against racism, in the wake of the death of George Floyd. The very senior officer had published a video in which he reported on the discrimination he himself suffered, including in the army. In the Air Force, "I was often the only African-American in my squadron and, as a high-ranking officer, the only African-American in the room ," he said at the time. "I think of the pressure I had to do a clean sheet, especially from my superiors who I felt expected less of me, as an African-American." He also said he had "worked twice as hard" to“demonstrate that their expectations and perceptions of African Americans were unfounded.”

But before taking command of the American army in all its components, the soldier must see the choice of the president confirmed by the Senate. A procedure far from being a formality: Tommy Tuberville, senator from Alabama, has been deliberately blocking nearly 200 pending military appointments for several weeks, a way for the Republican to demonstrate his opposition to the Pentagon's decision to help military women to obtain a voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG). Once confirmed, he would take over from General Mark Milley.

Alongside Minister Lloyd Austin, Mark Milley spearheaded US military aid to Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion. His passage was also marked by the American debacle in Kabul, when, in August 2021, the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan and its capital at the end of a twenty-year war described by Mark Milley himself. even of “strategic failure” .