WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has announced the nomination of Vice Adm. Brad Cooper to become the leading U.S. military commander in the Middle East, the Pentagon revealed on Wednesday. If confirmed, Cooper would be just the second Navy admiral to assume this position.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that Trump is also nominating Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson for the leadership of U.S. Africa Command. If confirmed, Anderson would make history as the first Air Force general to lead this command, established in 2007.

Vice Adm. Cooper is presently serving as the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command and brings significant experience from his service and leadership roles in the Middle East. The current commander, Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, plans to retire after serving over three years in this role.

It is a crucial role as the region has been shaken by conflict, with the Trump administration pushing to broker a ceasefire deal after 20 months of war in Gaza and pressing for an agreement with Iran in negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

A 1989 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Cooper commanded naval forces in the Middle East for close to three years as the head of the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain. He left in February 2024 to take over as deputy at Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and is based in Tampa.

Army and Marine generals have largely held the Middle East job since it was created in 1983. And two of the recent leaders — former Army Gen. Lloyd Austin and former Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, went on to serve as defense secretary. Central Command covers 21 countries across central and south Asia and northeast Africa and has overseen the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Syria and Yemen.

The only Navy officer to ever lead Central Command was Adm. William Fallon, who resigned after a year and retired. At the time, Fallon said he was stepping down due to press reports that suggested he was opposed to then-President George W. Bush’s Iran policies. He said the reports were wrong but the perception had become a distraction.

Cooper is a surface warfare officer and served on guided-missile cruisers, destroyers, aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. He commanded a destroyer and a cruiser.

During his time leading the 5th Fleet, Cooper set up the Navy’s first unmanned and artificial intelligence task force, and he led naval operations against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. He also oversaw the Navy’s role in Operation Prosperity Guardian, the U.S.-led coalition created in late 2023 to counter Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

He previously served as commander of Naval Surface Force Atlantic and commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea. Cooper is the son of a career Army officer and got his master’s degree in strategic intelligence from the National Intelligence University.

Anderson, nominated to lead operations in Africa, is a pilot who has flown the KC-135 tanker, the C-130 transport aircraft and the U-28A surveillance aircraft used largely by special operations forces. He has flown more than 3,400 flight hours, including 738 in combat.

He is currently serving as the director of joint force development on the Joint Staff.

According to the Air Force, he commanded a special operations squadron, an expeditionary squadron, an operations group and a special operations wing. He also led the task force that coordinated the repositioning of U.S. forces from Somalia and headed Special Operations Command, Africa, from 2019 to 2021.

Africa Command is the newest of the Pentagon’s geographic commands and covers the bulk of the African continent. Much of the U.S. military’s efforts there have focused on combatting extremist groups and training local forces.

Anderson would be the seventh general to head Africa Command. To date, four of the previous leaders were Army generals and two were Marines.

Anderson is from Ypsilanti, Michigan, and graduated from the ROTC program at Washington University in St. Louis.