Trump has started the purge of his Secretary of Defense …

US President Donald Trump ousted Defense Secretary Mark Esper, just two days before Democrat Joe Biden celebrates his final victory in the November 3 election. Relations between Trump and Esper had been strained in June, when the now former secretary he publicly opposed a deployment of the army to quell protests against racism and police violence in the country. From that point on, Esper’s loss of influence in government was evident, for example, in his absence from the media.

In his place, Trump has appointed the current director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Christopher Miller. US President has threatened large-scale purge of government for weeks. Even during a campaign event in Florida, he laughed at the possibility that White House chief epidemiology officer Dr Anthony Fauci, critic of the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, could also be fired. .

“I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the well-respected National Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate) will immediately take over as Acting Secretary of Defense.” , Trump reported on his Twitter account. . “Chris will do a great job! Mark Esper has been fired. I want to thank him for his service», Added the president about the member of the cabinet removed from his functions by a tweet.

The tension between Trump and Esper is not new. The former defense secretary publicly contradicted him months ago when the president proposed deploying armed forces to the streets to quell growing protests against racism and police brutality. “The possibility of using troops on active duty in the role of law enforcement should only be used as a last resort, and only in the most urgent and extreme situations. We are not in one of those situations now, ”he said at the time. Esper at a Pentagon press conference.

Trump was said to have been so enraged by the refusal that he had to be persuaded not to fire Esper immediately. That doesn’t mean that, despite the low profile the military leader later adopted, he’s been seen with one foot outside the Pentagon since then.

Who is Mark Esper?

Trained at West Point Military Academy and with experience in government and the private sectorEsper had come to the Pentagon in July 2019 to replace James Mattis, who resigned from his post for disagreeing with Trump’s plan to withdraw his troops from Syria.

Born in 1964, Esper graduated from West Point with a Bachelor of Science degree at age 23, before joining the military as an infantry officer, which led to his involvement in the First Gulf War. His actions at the front have earned him a Bronze Star and a Legion of Merit..

Upon returning to the United States, while still on active duty, Esper used his free time to complete a Masters of Public Administration at Harvard University. After ten years of service, he decided to leave the army and started working for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank with great influence in Washington.

In 2002, the administration of then President George W. Bush invited him to join the Pentagon as Under Secretary for Negotiations in the Department of Defense. After a brief stint in the portfolio, he returned to the private sector to work at institutions such as the Aerospace Industries Association and the multinational Raytheon, one of the Pentagon’s top contractors. In 2017, he left Raytheon to return to the Pentagon as Secretary of the Army, from which he managed the resources and preparation of 1.4 million troops.

As a result of this position, he became one of the best-known faces of the Pentagon, and has returned diligently to roam the halls of the Capitol, proving himself a staunch supporter of both the needs of the military and White House politics. .

Salt Esper, between Miller

Christopher Miller will be the new Acting Secretary of Defense until January 20, the date on which the new government led by Democrat Joe Biden will take office. Miller spent 31 years in the military, with Deployment to Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 as part of the Special Forces. After his retirement, he became a consultant on covert operations and government intelligence.

Between 2018 and 2019, he served as White House adviser on counterterrorism and transnational threats, and last year he became Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Special Operations. In August, he was finally appointed head of the National Counterterrorism Center.

The last US president to remove the defense minister from his post shortly after losing an election was George W. Bush. after the 2006 legislatures. At that time, he sacked Donald Rumsfeld, a symbol of his military strategy in Iraq, a war and occupation that had already become a political and economic burden on the United States.