Trump fires Defense Secretary Mark Esper

President Donald Trump announced Monday on Twitter that he’s fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper after losing the 2020 presidential election to former Vice President Joe Biden.

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The president said National Counterterrorism Center Director Christopher Miller will serve as acting secretary of defense “effective immediately.”

“Chris will do a GREAT job!” Trump wrote Monday morning in a tweet. “Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service.”

Esper became the nation’s 27th secretary of defense in July 2019 after ex-Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan withdrew his name from consideration. Before taking up the post, Esper served as the secretary of the Army.

Esper’s dismissal had been expected for months, The New York Times reported. Over the summer, the defense secretary publicly disagreed with Trump over the idea of sending active-duty soldiers to deal with protesters in several cities. At a news conference in June, Esper said he did not support invoking the Insurrection Act to quell protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.

Presidents who win reelection often replace Cabinet members, including the secretary of defense, but losing presidents have kept their Pentagon chiefs in place until Inauguration Day to preserve stability in the name of national security.

Miller has served as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center since August 10. Previously, he served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and combatting terrorism.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Cox Media Group