US President Trump Fires Defence Secretary Mark Esper, Announces Christopher Miller As New Pentagon Chief

United States (US) President Donald Trump has fired his Defence Secretary Mark Esper merely days after the contentious outcome of the Presidential election showed that he will have to vacate the White House to make way for President-elect Joseph Biden, reports Hindustan Times.

Trump said that Esper had been "terminated" and that Christopher Miller, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, will be acting Secretary of Defense starting immediately.

It should be noted that Esper was the second Defence Secretary in President Trump's administration. He had succeeded James Mattis who had himself stood up to resign from the role citing policy differences with President Trump over US troops in Syria.

Esper too had recently clashed with President Trump over the suggestion of using the military personnel to quash civic unrest.

Esper had recently landed in India with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to hold a high-profile 2+2 ministerial dialogue with Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh and Minster of External Affairs S Jaishankar. During the visit, the two nations had also signed military communications pact BECA.