When President Joe Biden stepped into the Rose Garden May 25 to announce the selection of Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he opened a new chapter in U.S. military history.
For the first time in 18 years, an Airman will be the commander in chief’s top military adviser, and not a moment too soon.
After two decades of forever ground wars that accomplished almost nothing, threats we’ve seen bubbling up on the horizon for a decade are now in clear focus to the masses. Like a neighborhood bully spoiling for a fight, China is flexing its muscles and strutting its stuff, trying increasingly to intimidate neighbors and rivals while professing innocence at every turn.
Brown Is perfectly suited to the challenges at hand. An experienced operator who has organized and led forces in the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East, he’s also a master tactician, having been an instructor and later the commandant of the Air Force Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., where the best operators go to supercharge their skills.
Brown was the brains behind the air campaign that turned the tide against ISIS in Syria. Working hand-in-glove with Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, he has made real progress to bring a sense of urgency to modernizing and readying the Air Force for future conflict. His “Accelerate Change … or Lose” treatise made plain the choice ahead, and his emphasis on commanders taking charge and finding ways to solve their challenges without waiting for someone to give them the answers helped reinvigorate the innovative spirit that has been an Air Force hallmark since its infancy as a rogue element within the Army.
That’s the spirit and perspective the President and Secretary of Defense need as they preside over a military enterprise that must rapidly evolve and adapt to systemic changes in every aspect of the enterprise. For the first time in a generation—indeed, nearly two—America faces a peer rival with the military chops to challenge the United States in every domain.
President Ronald Reagan,Wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.
January 1994
China is closing in on its stated goal to be able to take by force, should it choose to do so, the island state of Taiwan. At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in early June, China’s Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu made it abundantly clear that he sees Taiwan not as a sovereign entity, but as a wayward child that must be brought to heel.
“It is the core of China’s core interests,” he said in his address. “Taiwan is an internal affair. How to resolve the Taiwan question is a matter for Chinese to decide.”
The United States is not an ally or a competitor, in his view, but a provocateur, spoiling for trouble in China’s backyard.
Days before the annual conference, one of China’s warships cut off a U.S. Navy destroyer exercising in the South China sea, aggressively sailing in its path and forcing the U.S. ship to slow down. In another incident, a Chinese fighter jet banked sharply and intercepted a U.S. RC-135, flying so close as it crossed the slower plane’s path generating turbulence with its jet wash.
Blame the U.S., Li said. “In China, we always say, ‘Mind your own business,’” he explained. “Take good care of your own vessels, your fighter jets, take good care of your own territorial airspace and waters. If that is the case, I don’t think there will be future problems.”
Unsaid but implied: If you fly your colors in our neighborhood, watch out. This is the language of bullies and gangsters, not leading nations. But at least we know what we’re up against.
Brown is thoughtful on the subject. On a June 7 visit to AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, Brown invoked President Ronald Reagan, offering a quote from a 1984 speech: “History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.” Reagan’s point then—and Brown’s today—is that aggressors read the room and place their bets.
That’s what Vladimir Putin did in 2022, reasoning that the West would splinter, and that NATO would sacrifice Ukraine in exchange for Russian fuel and future peace. Putin bet wrong. Brown’s job is to help make sure China is clear on our intent.
In an earlier speech, Reagan made a similar observation, noting that “War comes not when the forces of freedom are strong, but when they are weak. It is then that tyrants are tempted.”
China must not be tempted.
Brown wants to make sure China draws the right conclusions about American resolve. He’s spent the past three years focused on reinvigorating an Air Force broken by overuse and underfunding. He sees clearly how the Air Force “probably became too efficient” over time, too reliant on buying minimal quantities of aircraft and munitions, only to discover too late that it lacked the capacity required to be ready when needed.
As Air Force Chief, Brown was a force provider, and sometimes struggled to deliver. “When I engage with the combatant commanders, particularly [on] these contentious issues, where they want more Air Force, I tell them, ‘Don’t fight against the Air Force, fight for the Air Force.’ If you want more Air Force, you’ve got to resource the Air Force.”
As Chairman, he’ll have an opportunity to exert influence across the joint enterprise, including how requirements should be met and resourced. Don’t expect him to be blindly parochial in his outlook—as some of his predecessors have been—that’s not his style nor should it be.
But count on him to be clear, direct, and blunt, when necessary, all of which should help some future Chief meet the inevitable COCOM demands “for more Air Force” when—not if—they come.
China’s talk on Taiwan may be brutish, but the Chinese can be subtle too. The key is understanding our adversary, learning their patterns, approaches, style, and thought processes, how they react to different stimuli, when they blink.
Brown is a thinker. Asked if more bomber flights in the Indo-Pacific would demonstrate greater U.S. resolve, he was unmoved. Deterrence is not just about swinging elbows, or dangerously crossing the flight path of your adversary, daring him to make a mistake.
You must ask, Brown said: “Is that going to send the right message—do we really understand that? … You can fly and burn a lot of JP-8 doing things, but is that sending the message you want to be received by our adversaries? And by our allies and partners? That takes deeper thought.”
Does China understand where the U.S. is coming from? Is China deterring—or is it goading the U.S. into conflict? It’s hard to say. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin let Li know he was open to meeting in Singapore. Li declined. One senses he has his talking points, but nothing to negotiate. He knows what his boss wants, but not how to get there.
In Brown, Austin and President Biden have a sharp and thoughtful adviser, practiced at the high-speed, high-stakes, three-dimensional strategy game called dogfighting, proven at multiple levels in combat, and seasoned after three years as the Air Chief. Game on.