{"id":6770,"date":"2020-11-10T17:40:45","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T09:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=6770"},"modified":"2020-11-10T17:40:50","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T09:40:50","slug":"trump-fires-defence-secretary-mark-esper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=6770","title":{"rendered":"Trump fires Defence Secretary Mark Esper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON, Nov\u00a010\u00a0— US\u00a0President Donald Trump said on Monday that he has fired Defence Secretary Mark Esper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Mark Esper has been terminated,” Trump tweeted. “I would like to thank him for his service.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president said Christopher Miller, director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, will be the Pentagon’s acting chief “effective immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement came only days after a spokesman said Esper “has no plans to resign, nor has he been asked to submit a letter of resignation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esper, 56, began to lead the US\u00a0Department of Defence in mid-2019 after serving as secretary of the Army. His nomination won a bipartisan vote in the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"mark<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

During his tenure, the Pentagon official was at odds with the White House on several occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esper was recently helping US lawmakers craft legislation to pull Confederate names from military bases, a move that Trump has publicly opposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This summer, when the president threatened to deploy active-duty troops to respond to nationwide demonstrations, Esper held a press conference in Pentagon making clear his opposition to the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller, 55, was sworn in as director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, aligned under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in August this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most recently, Miller served as deputy assistant secretary of defence for special operations and combating terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration’s first defence secretary, James Mattis, resigned in late 2018 over policy disagreements with the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2019, Trump announced an intent to tap Patrick Shanahan, then-acting defence secretary, to formally lead the department but that decision was reversed a month later when Shanahan said he was withdrawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the US federal government, the defence secretary oversees the Department of Defence and acts as the principal defence policy maker and advisor.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

— BERNAMA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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