By New York Times
President Trump on Monday fired Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, the latest casualty in the president’s revolving door of top national security officials who fell on the wrong side of their boss.
According to New York Times, Mr. Trump announced the decision on Twitter, writing in an abrupt post that Mr. Esper had been “terminated.”
The president wrote that he was appointing Christopher C. Miller, whom he described as the “highly respected” director of the National Counterterrorism Center, to be acting defense secretary. Mr. Miller will be the fourth official to lead the Pentagon under Mr. Trump.
The president noted that Mr. Miller had already been approved by the Senate for his current position, perhaps as a way to argue that the firing of a defense secretary should not be viewed as a sign of turmoil in the highest ranks of the nation’s national security structure.
Mr. Esper’s departure means that Mr. Miller would — if he lasts — see out the end of the Trump administration at the Pentagon. While Mr. Trump has over two months left in office, it could still be a significant time, as Defense Department officials have privately expressed worries that the president might initiate operations, whether overt or secret, again Iran or other adversaries in his waning days in office.
Friends and colleagues praised Mr. Miller’s Army Special Forces background and counterterrorism credentials but expressed surprise that he had been elevated to such a senior position, even in a temporary capacity.
And while he is not considered an ideologue, Mr. Miller does not have the stature to push back on any extreme positions that Mr. Trump might advocate in his final weeks in office, colleagues said.
“A move like this probably sends a chill through the senior ranks of the military,” Nicholas J. Rasmussen, a former top counterterrorism official in the Bush and Obama administrations, said in an email.
“Not because of anything about Chris Miller personally, though it’s a highly unconventional choice, to be sure. But simply because a move like this contributes to a sense of instability and unstable decision-making at exactly the time when you want to avoid sending that kind of message around the world.”
Mr. Miller is a former Army Green Beret who participated in the liberation of Kandahar early in the war in Afghanistan. He also previously served as the top counterterrorism policy official in the National Security Council under the Trump White House. After that job, he briefly served in a top counterterrorism policy role at the Pentagon this year.
He has been part of the Trump administration’s musical chairs on national security posts. It was only in August that Mr. Miller was named to replace Russ Travers, who was the acting head of the counterterrorism center.
New York Times
