OREANDA-NEWS. US President Donald Trump dismissed Defense Secretary Mark Esper. The Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Christopher C. Miller will take this post.

“Chris will do a great job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service,” Trump wrote on his Twitter page.

Esper has served as Secretary of Defense since July 2019. The planned reshuffle in the leadership of the US Department of Defense was previously discussed by American media. According to reporters, the relationship between Trump and Esper deteriorated amid the crackdown on protests by the movement Black Lives Matter in summer.

Miller took over as head of the National Counter Terrorism Center in August 2020. From 2018 to 2019, he was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism and Transnational Threats at the National Security Council. In this position, he was responsible for the development and implementation of policy of Washington at the strategic level.