Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office this month. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is backing a Navy admiral as his preferred choice for a key role commanding U.S. military operations in the Middle East, passing over an Army general who had been widely presumed to be the top contender amid an ongoing naval war in the region, according to defense officials and others familiar with the issue.
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper is Hegseth’s recommendation to head U.S. Central Command over Gen. James Mingus, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the Trump administration’s personnel considerations. The recommendation will be reviewed by President Donald Trump, who must submit a nomination to the Senate for the job, one of the military’s most significant.
The support for Cooper comes as Hegseth’s team scrutinizes Pentagon plans for numerous top military roles, in some cases shifting to different options than what had been favored by President Joe Biden’s administration, the officials said. Both Cooper and Mingus are seen in the Pentagon as qualified selections for the Central Command post, the officials said, but the choice demonstrates a desire by the Trump administration to continue to shake up the military’s senior ranks after ousting several leaders soon after taking office in January.
Cooper, a surface warfare officer, has served as Central Command’s deputy commander since February 2024, and previously led all U.S. naval forces in the Middle East. Those posts have put him in an influential position as both the Biden and Trump administrations have dealt with an array of challenging issues, including the war in the Gaza Strip, tension between Iran and Israel, and the ongoing U.S. military campaign against Houthi militants in Yemen.
If confirmed, Cooper will be promoted to four-star admiral and replace Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, who has served as the head of Central Command since April 2022 and is expected to retire this summer. The position is typically held for about three years, indicating that the Trump administration is behind the typical schedule in finding a replacement. Cooper would become just the second Navy officer to hold the post.
Other jobs expected to come open this year include the four-star heads of U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Strategic Command.
Spokespeople for Hegseth and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. Spokespeople for Cooper, Mingus and Kurilla declined to comment.
The Trump administration has fired more than a dozen key military leaders this year, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., and the Navy’s top admiral, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, both of whom were selected by Biden. In an unconventional move, Trump in February nominated a retired officer, Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, to replace Brown, and the Senate in April approved both the selection and Caine’s promotion to four-star general.
Kurilla, who had been seen as another potential replacement for Brown, recommended Cooper as his successor at Central Command, people familiar with the deliberations said.
Before Trump’s return to office, Biden administration officials hoped to nominate Mingus but ultimately decided to leave the decision to the incoming administration, officials familiar with the issue said. A person familiar with Mingus’s thinking said they told him he was their choice.
Several officials familiar with the issue said Mingus may have lost out on the Central Command job because of his association with retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, the influential former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whom Trump and Hegseth have repeatedly cast as a political adversary.
Admirers of Milley, who retired in 2023, have commended the brash Boston-area native for playing a leading role in guiding the military through Trump’s tumultuous first term, while critics have accused him of violating Trump’s trust by discussing the president’s behavior with journalists and describing him as a “fascist to the core” once in retirement. Hegseth’s team took action against Milley in January, suspending his security clearance, revoking his security detail and ordering the Pentagon’s inspector general to review his behavior as the Pentagon’s top general. Administration officials also had Milley’s official portrait taken down at the Pentagon.
While Mingus has steered clear of politics, he served as director of operations for Milley’s Joint Staff from October 2020 to June 2022 and director of the Joint Staff from June 2022 to January 2024. Mingus was promoted to four-star general last year and became vice chief of staff of the Army, the service’s No. 2 post. He now expects to serve in that position for at least another year and then retire, officials said. A person familiar with his thinking said that he always believed that his current position could be his last one, and he is happy to serve in that role.
Other people familiar with the deliberations said Hegseth’s recommendation of Cooper was not made because of Mingus’s association with Milley.
It was not immediately clear why Hegseth favors Cooper over Mingus, but the general’s time on the Joint Staff coincided with the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. The time period marked a low for both the Biden administration and the 20-year war, with U.S. troops undertaking a chaotic evacuation in which the U.S. military airlifted more than 120,000 people to safety from a single commercial runway.
The operation was marked by scenes of violence that included civilians, desperate to flee the Taliban, overrunning the airport in Kabul; an errant drone strike in which U.S. forces killed 10 civilians; and an Islamic State bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghans on the outskirts of the airport.
Hegseth has promised repeatedly that there will be “accountability” in the Pentagon over the fall of Afghanistan, without clarifying what that means. Most senior officers involved at the time, including Milley and Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, who oversaw the withdrawal as the head of Central Command, have since retired.
During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump leveraged the fall of Afghanistan repeatedly to attack Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in July. Harris and her supporters countered that Trump’s negotiations and deal with the Taliban in 2020 promising to withdraw all troops by May 2021 left Biden with few good options and set in motion the later crisis.
U.S. military officials, including Milley, have defended their actions through the fall of Afghanistan, noting that the Biden administration did not accept the Pentagon’s recommendation to keep a force of about 1,500 troops in Afghanistan to buttress the U.S.-backed government in Kabul. Several commanders involved at the time later voiced exasperation with Biden administration officials, saying it did not appear they all understood the gravity of the situation in summer 2021 as the Taliban began to seize control of cities across the country.
