Trump’s Pentagon Shift Raises Concerns about Military Plans in Final Weeks

By Staff, Agencies 

US President Trump’s decision to fire War Secretary Mark Esper on Monday raised concerns that he may be planning far-reaching military moves in his final weeks in office — and is putting in place new leadership more inclined to go along.

Trump named Christopher Miller, director of the national counterterrorism center, to take over as acting War secretary, bypassing the normal practice of having the Pentagon’s No. 2 official take charge temporarily if the top job becomes vacant.

Trump announced the move on Twitter, saying Esper “has been terminated” and that Miller would assume control immediately.

Miller showed up at the Pentagon a little over an hour later. He issued guidance telling the Pentagon’s vast workforce to continue its mission without changes, a military Department official said.

The White House long has hinted that Trump was likely to fire several top national security aides after the election. In addition to Esper, he is said to be angry at FBI Director Christopher A. Wray for not investigating his political enemies and at CIA Director Gina Haspel for delaying release of classified documents about the 2016 campaign. 

Before the election, Trump publicly raised the possibility that he might pull all remaining US troops — roughly 4,500 — out of Afghanistan by January. 

He also privately raised the possibility of withdrawing the approximately 500 American forces in Somalia, and a further drawdown in Syria.

It’s unclear whether Trump is still weighing such moves. He has long been frustrated at Pentagon resistance to his goals of ending US involvement in long-running overseas wars and may see the next 10 weeks as a last chance to achieve his goal of bringing forces home.

As commander in chief, Trump retains control over military decision-making until President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in at noon Jan. 20. 

Democrats, who had praised Esper’s reluctance to use combat troops to quell widespread protests for racial justice last summer, warned that Trump may be seeking a more pliant leader at the Pentagon.

“The abrupt firing of Secretary Esper is disturbing evidence that President Trump is intent on using his final days in office to sow chaos in our American democracy and around the world,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-San Francisco].

“Firing the Secretary of ‘Defense’ in the waning weeks of the administration undermines national security at a critical moment,” said Sen. Jack Reed, [D-R.I.], the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a retired Army officer.

In an interview conducted before his dismissal but published after he was fired Monday, Esper suggested that his successor might be more willing than he was to go along with Trump’s questionable uses of the military.

“Who’s going to come in behind me?” Esper told Military Times, which covers the armed forces. “It’s going to be a real ‘Yes man.’ And then God help us.”

Concerns that the abrupt change in Pentagon leadership might alarm allies and embolden adversaries, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called senior military counterparts overseas Monday to reassure them that US armed forces remain “ready” and were unaffected by the turmoil in Washington, according to a US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.