President Trump on Monday announced he had fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, a stunning move that comes days after Joe Biden was projected to have won the presidential race.
“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 said in a series of tweets.
“Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service.”
Esper had long been seen as out the door regardless of who won the election. But firing him now gives Trump a chance to flex his executive powers at a time he is trying to project strength amid his electoral defeat.
It also raises questions about the military chain of command during a fraught time in the United States. The Pentagon declined a request for comment, referring questions to the White House.
Trump and Esper have had a rocky relationship since the summer’s nationwide racial justice protests. During the height of the protests, Trump threatened to deploy active-duty troops to quell the demonstrations.
Esper responded by holding a press conference at the Pentagon announcing his opposition to deploying troops.
Esper’s public split reportedly angered Trump so much that he had to be talked out of firing the Defense secretary then.
Talk that Trump could fire Esper picked up again in the days after Tuesday’s presidential election as it seemed increasingly likely that Biden had won.
The Pentagon last week pushed back on reports speculating about Esper’s fate, with chief spokesman Jonathan Hoffman saying that Esper “has no plans to resign, nor has he been asked to submit a letter of resignation.”
National security experts and some lawmakers have warned about the dangers of having a rudderless Pentagon during the presidential transition period if U.S. adversaries such as Russia and China try to cause trouble.
In addition to speculation about Esper, questions are also swirling about the fate of other national security leaders, including FBI Director Christopher Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel.
“The disarray of the lame duck Trump White House, especially in the national security space, could be staggering. And our adversaries may try to take advantage,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tweeted Sunday.
“Like I said yesterday. Trump is creating a dangerously unstable national security environment during this transition period. Adversaries are watching,” Murphy added in a tweet Monday after Trump fired Esper.
Esper has been Defense secretary since 2019, replacing James Mattis, who resigned in December 2018 over disagreements about Trump’s Syria policy.
Miller, who Trump said will serve as acting Defense secretary, has been director of the National Counterterrorism Center since August.
He previously served as the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for special operations and combating terrorism, and before that, worked on counterterrorism in the Trump’s National Security Council.
