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Defense Secretary Mark Esper, fired today by Donald Trump, will be remembered for opposing the president’s claim to use the military to crack down on protests against police brutality in recent months.
Through a message on the social network Twitter, Trump announced the sacking of Esper and his provisional replacement by the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Christopher C. Miller.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to send all kinds of forces, including the military, to suppress those protests, the demonstrations of which in some cases were accompanied by violence and looting, which prompted Esper to announce his opposition to the idea at a press conference. at the Pentagon. .
This attitude of Esper provoked the fury of Trump, who wanted to fire him immediately.
A graduate of West Point Military Academy and an expert in government and the private sector, Esper arrived at the Pentagon in July 2019, replacing James Mattis, after resigning from his job in disagreement with Trump’s plan to withdraw US troops. Americans in Syria.
Born in 1964, Esper graduated with a degree in science at the age of 23, followed by enlisting in the army as an infantry officer, which led to him participating in the first Gulf War.
His actions on the front led to him receiving a Bronze Star and a Legion of Merit.
Returning to the United States, while remaining in the military, he earned a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University.
After 10 years in the military, he decided to leave and started working for the Heritage Foundation, a very influential conservative think tank in Washington.
From here he moved to the public sphere, in the International Relations Commission of the Senate and, between 2001 and 2002, he was Director of Public Policy for the Armed Forces Commission of the House of Representatives.
This year President George W. Bush invited him to the Pentagon as Undersecretary of Defense, which allowed him to work on issues related to arms control, international security and nuclear non-proliferation.
After his stint in defense, he returned to the private sector, where he worked at the Aerospace Industries Association and Raytheon, a major Pentagon supplier.
In 2017 he left Raytheon to return to the Pentagon, as Secretary of the Army, where he managed the resources and training of the 1.4 million soldiers that make up this branch of the military.
He became one of the best known faces of the Pentagon, returning to frequent the Capitol vehicles, proving to be a staunch defender of both the needs of the army and the policies of the White House.
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