US President Donald Trump has not yet conceded the election to President-elect Joe Biden but is opting to shake up the Pentagon by firing Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
“I am pleased to announce that Christopher C Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate), will be Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately,” Trump tweeted on 9 November. “Chris will do a great job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service.”
Miller was sworn in as the seventh director of the National Counterterrorism Center in August. He had previously performed the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, and held the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism post.
The Pentagon declined to comment on Esper’s exit and referred all questions to the White House. Regardless of the presidential election’s outcome, Esper was expected to leave his job due to growing tensions between himself and the commander-in-chief.
The strain between the duo was thrust into the public spotlight after crowds took to the streets to protest about George Floyd’s death while in police custody. As protests grew across the nation, Trump wanted to use active-duty troops to quell the uprisings but Esper countered this bid.
“The option to use active duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations,” Esper told reporters on 3 June. “We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.”
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper briefed the press in March. Trump announced on 9 November that he had fired Esper. (DoD)
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