US President, Donald Trump has sacked Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper and announced Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Christopher Miller as his replacement.
He announced the decision in a Monday tweet, two days after the media called the presidential race for his main challenger, Joe Biden.
“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.
“Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service,” the President’s tweet read.
Esper is a West Point graduate and former Army lieutenant colonel.
He was vice president of government relations for Raytheon — the fifth-largest defense contractor in the United States — for seven years before becoming Army secretary.
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Esper, who scaled Senate confirmation in August 2019, is the third Defense Secretary under the Trump administration.
He was preceded by Jim Mattis and, in an acting capacity, Patrick Shanahan.
Miller served in the Army from 1987 through 2014, over the last year.
From 2018 to 2019, Miller served as a special assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism and transnational threats at the National Security Council.