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- Trump has held a series of high-level defense positions with loyalists, raising alarm among Pentagon officials.
- Four defense officials, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Acting Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy James Anderson, have resigned or been sacked since Trump lost the presidential election.
- Anderson was replaced by Anthony Tata, a retired US Army Brigadier General who made false statements about Barack Obama, including that he was a “terrorist leader.”
- “It’s scary. It’s very disturbing,” a defense official told CNN, adding that “these are dictatorial movements”.
- Home Armed Services President Adam Smith said the coming months could be “downright dangerous.”
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
President Trump continues to remove senior defense officials and replace them with loyalists, creating growing alarm in the Pentagon that his rapid overhaul of key personnel could undermine national security.
Since Trump sacked Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday, three other Defense Department officials have resigned or been sacked. Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy James Anderson resigned on Tuesday after clashes with the White House over his attempts to insert controversial figures into key Pentagon positions.
Anderson has been replaced by retired U.S. Army Brigadier Anthony Tata, Trump ally and regular Fox News guest.
Tata has sparked controversy with a number of false statements about former President Barack Obama. He called Obama a “Muslim”, a “terrorist” who “normalized Islam for America” and a “terrorist leader” in tweets uncovered by CNN.
Under Secretary for Intelligence Joseph Kernan and Esper staff member Jen Stewart have also stepped down.
They were replaced by Ezra Cohen-Watnick and Kash Patel respectively. Patel will serve as chief of staff to Christopher Miller, who succeeded Esper as interim defense secretary, CNN reported.
Cohen-Watnick and Patel are both seen as fiercely loyal to the outgoing president.
The Pentagon is said to be increasingly concerned that the wave of personnel changes are just the beginning and that Trump’s decision-making may become more volatile as he continues to refuse to lose last week’s election to the benefit of Joe Biden.
A defense official was quoted by CNN as saying, “It’s scary. It’s very disturbing,” adding that “these are dictatorial movements.”
CNN reported an official saying that “it looks like we’re done with the beheadings for now.
However, officials told the Washington Post that Assistant Secretary of Defense David Norquist could be the next White House sacking target.
House Armed Services Speaker Adam Smith said in a statement Tuesday that the “gutting” of the department should “alarm” Americans.
“It is hard to overestimate how dangerous the turnover of senior staff in the Defense Ministry is during a period of presidential transition. The resignation of the Department’s top political official the day after the Defense Secretary’s dismissal could mark the start of a process. to dump the DoD – something that should alarm all Americans, ”he said.
In separate remarks, Smith, the Democratic representative from Washington, told Politico: “If this is the start of a trend – the president is laying off or expelling national security professionals in order to replace them with people perceived as more loyal to him – then the next 70 days will be precarious at best and downright dangerous at worst. “
His warnings about the threat to national security were echoed by Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who tweeted “The purge of Trump’s Defense Department is deeply dangerous to our national security” and that the “personal vendettas and temper tantrums of the outgoing President are replacing our national security.”
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