A Conversation with General Dan Caine, 22nd Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 

General Dan Caine is the 22nd Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, and the principal military advisor to the President, Secretary of War, and National Security Council. 

Prior to becoming Chairman on April 11, 2025, General Caine was the Associate Director for Military Affairs at Central Intelligence Agency.  

He has served in a wide range of operational, staff and joint assignments, primarily as an F-16 fighter pilot, weapons officer, member of the White House staff and special operations officer. 

General Caine was commissioned in 1990 through the ROTC program at the Virginia Military Institute, and he has an MA in Air Warfare from the American Military University. He has completed a range of national security and leadership courses, including Harvard Kennedy School's course for Senior Executives in National and International Security, and the Syracuse University Maxwell School's Program on National Security.  

As a Command Pilot, he has logged more than 2,800 hours in the F-16, including more than 150 combat hours. From 2009-2016, Caine was a part-time member of the National Guard and a serial entrepreneur and investor. 

Editor, Foreign Affairs

Daniel Kurtz-Phelan is Editor of Foreign Affairs,  a position he has held since 2021, and host of The Foreign Affairs Interview podcast. He previously served in the U.S. State Department, including as a member of the Policy Planning Staff, and his narrative history of George Marshall’s post­–World War II mission to China, The China Mission, was named a best book of the year by The Economist and an editor’s pick by The New York Times Book Review. He has taught at Yale University and New York University, and his writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.