President Donald Trump's top general has been drafting plans for a potential military strike on Iran — but he's being careful not to contradict the commander in chief during their meetings.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been summoning top officials from the Air Force, Army and Navy to his office to develop military options, but the concerns raised in those meetings about the scale and potential for U.S. casualties have not matched the belligerent rhetoric coming from the White House, reported CNN.
"He’s definitely pulling punches," said a source familiar with Caine’s interactions with the president.
Caine, a former F-16 pilot who had never led a combatant command before Trump elevated him over 38 eligible four-star generals, has become a member of Trump’s most-trusted inner circle – along with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles – and has become even more trusted than Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who sources say can't touch the chairman.
“Caine has a direct line to Trump,” said one of the people familiar with the dynamic. “He has to respect the chain of command, but he’s the president’s guy. Hegseth can’t just shove him in a corner.”
While Caine privately raises concerns about operation scale, complexity, and casualty risks — concerns he articulates in carefully orchestrated private meetings rather than the Pentagon's main conference room — he simultaneously orchestrates the largest Middle Eastern military buildup since the Iraq invasion.
"Defense officials broadly see Caine as a useful counterbalance to Hegseth, whose inexperience and focus on culture war issues contrasts with Caine’s long military career and operational experience," CNN reported. "Nonetheless, Caine’s reticence to strongly deliver his opinion on certain issues has left many military officials struggling to understand where he stands, especially considering the number of senior military officials who have been forced out for disagreeing with Trump and Hegseth."
The defense secretary made clear that he doesn't want Caine interacting with reporters without his approval, and the chairman generally obliges Hegseth's requests, CNN wrote. But some officials believe he goes too far in his efforts to please the Pentagon chief.
“How has Caine made it this long?" said one person who has worked with him in the past. "He is a genius at getting himself to be the person someone needs him to be in any setting.”
Multiple sources said the pair have clashed most over personnel, especially Hegseth's purge last year of senior military officials for seemingly political reasons. But they said Caine typically loses those battles.
“At the end of the day, guys like Caine and service leaders haven’t been happy about it …. but [Caine] understands it’s fair and it’s just the way of things," said a recently retired officer. "To do anything else, it’s like, what else are you going to do? It’s kind of a tough situation. But I do think there’s moral injury taking place with our senior leaders.”