A day after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, made effective the dismissal of Mark Esper as Secretary of Defense, several senior Pentagon officials have resigned this Thursday, including the undersecretary of Defense, James Anderson.
Along with Anderson, the chief intelligence official, Joseph Kernan, and Esper’s chief of staff, Jen Stewart, have resigned a day after Trump replaced Esper with Christopher Miller, who until then served as director of the National Center. Anti-terrorist.
“I want to thank Mr. Anderson, Admiral Kernan and Jen Stewart for their service to the nation and the Department,” the new Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said in a statement.
“Throughout their careers, each has contributed greatly to national defense and the future of the Department. We wish them the best in their next endeavors,” he said.
The tension between Esper and Trump had escalated in recent months, after the Pentagon chief refused to deploy Army troops to the streets during the latest protests against police violence in several US cities.
So much so, that the Democratic Party has described Esper’s dismissal as “reckless” and “childish”, and they suspect that Trump’s decision is aimed at filling the US institutions with unconditional support in order to promote controversial legal actions before leave the White House in January.
Some media outlets such as CNN have advanced that Anderson’s replacement would be the controversial retired General Anthony Tata, a regular political commentator for the Fox News television network, who in the summer had to resign from senior positions within the Pentagon after he a series of Islamophobic messages that he published in the past on his social networks came to light.
Tata, who was finally appointed in July deputy assistant secretary for Pentagon policy, called Islam a “violent and oppressive religion,” and accused former President Barack Obama of being a “terrorist leader,” and a “candidate from Manchuria,” in reference. to Richard Condon’s 1959 novel, which tells the story of a Korean War veteran who is about to become president of the United States, as well as a spy for the Soviet Union.
The Pentagon has confirmed that retired Navy Vice Admiral Joseph Kernan will be replaced by Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, Ezra Cohen-Watnick; while Stewart will be replaced by Kash Patel, who was part of the National Security Council.
