China News Agency, Washington, November 9th (Reporter Chen Mengtong) US President Trump announced on the 9th that he would remove the Secretary of Defense Esper from his post and let Christopher Miller, director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center, act as acting Secretary of Defense.
Trump announced the above news through social media that day.
This is the first major personnel change of the Trump administration after the US election.
At the same time, it also means that the Pentagon has once again been acting as an agent after nearly 16 months.
Esper, 56, officially took charge of the Pentagon in July 2019, and is Trump's second secretary of defense.
After the former Secretary of Defense Mattis resigned at the end of 2018, the post of Secretary of Defense experienced more than 7 months of acting status.
Trump did not comment on Esper’s work, saying only that the latter “has been dismissed” and simply thanked him.
Esper graduated from West Point Military Academy and served in the US Army for 21 years.
After retiring from the army, he worked in a number of private sectors and served as the vice chairman of government relations for the defense supplier Raytheon.
In June of this year, the death of African-American George Freud triggered large-scale demonstrations in the United States.
When the White House urged the states to "control the streets," or they would use the military, Esper publicly stated that he did not support the use of active U.S. military forces to enforce domestic law.
Miller is 55 years old and became director of the National Anti-Terrorism Center in August this year.
Previously, he was responsible for special operations and counter-terrorism affairs in the US Department of Defense, and served on the National Security Affairs Commission.
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