I’m No ‘Yes Man’, Ex-Pentagon Boss, Mark Esper Relives Tenure

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President Trump and sacked Defense Secretary, Esper

He may be jobless at the moment, but immediate past United States (US) Secretary of Defence, Mark Esper knew before hand that his time on the Pentagon seat was nearly over.

With many insiders’ reports hinting that he already had his resignation letter prepared, Esper is quoted as claiming his biggest selling point as not being a “Yes Man”.

In an interview with Military Times given the day after the election and published on Monday, November 9, 2020, Esper said he was proud of the occasions he stood up to Trump, angrily rejecting the nickname of Yesper, used by critics who saw him as too subservient to Trump.

“My frustration is I sit here and say, ‘Hm, 18 cabinet members. Who’s pushed back more than anybody?’ Name another Cabinet Secretary that’s pushed back,” Esper said.

“Have you seen me on a stage saying, ‘Under the exceptional leadership of blah-blah-blah, we have blah-blah-blah-blah?”

He claimed success in “protecting the institution, which is really important to me” and “preserving my integrity in the process.”

“At the end of the day, it’s as I said – you’ve got to pick your fights,” he added. “I could have a fight over anything, and I could make it a big fight, and I could live with that – why? Who’s going to come in behind me? It’s going to be a real ‘Yes man.’ And then God help us”, the Ex-Pentagon Chief said

Esper may not be the last head to fall in the national security leadership. CNN cited an unnamed senior official that Esper feared the directors of the FBI and CIA, Christopher Wray and Gina Haspel, would be next to go.

Though Trump has not conceded defeat in the presidential election, Miller will only have a little more than two months in the role before Joe Biden enters the White House.

Esper was Trump’s second Permanent Secretary of Defence, after Mattis, a retired US Marine Corps general who resigned in late 2018. Mattis was succeeded by Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who spent months in the role but was not formally confirmed by the Senate.

Trump came close to firing Esper on June 3 when the former Raytheon arms executive publicly contradicted the President over the potential use of the 1807 Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty military units against protests in Washington and other cities.

Esper said the circumstances did not justify the use of the act, which can empower a president to send troops into states against the wishes of local authorities. Trump had threatened to invoke the law two days earlier. Following Esper’s remarks, the White House noted it was a decision for the president alone.

Esper had also given orders for a battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division and military police units to return to base after they had been flown to the Washington area. He reversed the withdrawal order after visiting the White House, but the troops were withdrawn a few days later.

According to reports quoting administration sources at the time, Trump’s aides advised him against firing his second defence secretary, and Esper was urged not to offer his resignation by his own advisers.

According to the Wall Street Journal, he had already begun to draft a resignation letter to that effect.

Esper and the Chairman of Joint
chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, were heavily criticised by former senior defence officials and military leaders, for appearing alongside Trump on 1 June, at a photo op outside a church near the White House, after the surrounding area had been cleared by police and other federal security forces using teargas, mounted police and baton charges.

Milley later apologised for his appearance, saying he should not have been there.

In a third source of friction, Esper said he was open to discussion about the renaming of military bases named after Confederate army officers. The White House had ruled out any change to the names.

Esper became Defence Secretary in July 2019, succeeding acting Secretary Shanahan. Shanahan had taken over following Mattis’s resignation, who left the administration over Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria, abandoning Kurdish allies who had led the fight against the Islamic State.

After a long silence, Mattis accused Trump of abuse of Executive office and making a “mockery of the constitution” in the administration’s response to the George Floyd protests. – With The Guardian 

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