As President Trump and his top aides were considering a military operation against Iran in early June, Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio wanted to make sure that American troops would not end up indefinitely embroiled in another war in the Middle East.
As General Dan Caine, the newly confirmed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took to the stage, sharing the concerns of others in the room about putting Americans at risk. He pulled out a map in the Situation Room and explained how, if ordered to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Pentagon could protect the pilots involved in the mission and American troops in the Middle East from any Iranian retaliation. Caine’s confidence resonated with Trump. When the June 21 attack largely followed the options Caine outlined, it magnified his influence with a president whose carefully chosen military advisers had often proved to be obstacles to his goals. In less than a week since the operation, Caine has spoken twice to the public and has received praise from the president.
“I have to say, General ‘Razin’ Caine was incredible,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday, using Caine’s Air Force nickname and describing his role in the Iran operation.
During his brief tenure in the new role, Caine has emerged as one of Trump’s closest advisers. In the week before and immediately after the attack, the general was at the White House almost every day. During Saturday night’s briefing in the Situation Room, Trump repeatedly turned to Caine for answers to his questions. Caine recounted the attack as it unfolded, showing maps and explaining what was happening in real time. He told White House officials that he believed the Iranians never predicted it would come, and he answered more questions than any other official in the room. His rise from a largely unknown military officer to Trump’s team began at an air base in western Iraq in 2018. Caine, then deputy commander of the special operations component of Operation Inherent Resolve, the campaign to defeat ISIS, helped brief Trump, who had flown in for a progress report on the war.
Caine had spent most of his military career as an F-16 fighter pilot in the Air National Guard, deploying several times to the Middle East. He was assigned to Andrews Air Force Base on September 11, 2001, when his unit took to the air to protect the skies over Washington. He later worked on special operations tactics for stealth aircraft, as well as on highly classified programs at the Pentagon, Joint Special Operations Command and the Central Intelligence Agency.
