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Defense secretary deputy chief of staff Alexis Ross (pictured) resigned and became the latest official to leave the Pentagon this week as part of a growing post-election purge.
The defense secretary’s deputy chief of staff has resigned, becoming the latest official to leave the Pentagon this week as part of a growing post-election purge.
A United States defense official told CNN on Thursday that Alexis Ross submitted his resignation.
Ross joined the Department of Defense under the now-fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper in late 2019 after having served as an assistant to the US Army for procurement and strategy reform.
The Defense Secretary’s chief of staff, Jen Stewart, had already tendered her resignation on Tuesday, the day after Esper was fired by Donald Trump on Twitter.
The commotion among Esper’s undersecretaries at the Defense Department is unsurprising after sources told CNN on Tuesday that Trump planned to ditch the rest of the ousted Defense Secretary’s team after firing him.
Concern is growing among officials about what’s coming next, as the president’s top brass review could be setting the nation up for a chaotic transition to Joe Biden’s administration, CNN reported.
The turmoil at the Pentagon began when Donald Trump fired Esper in a tweet on Monday and replaced him with Christopher Miller, director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
“I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected director of the National Counterterrorism Center (confirmed unanimously by the Senate), will be Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been fired. I would like to thank you for your service, ” Trump added.
Ross is the latest official to leave the Pentagon this week as part of the post-election purge that began when Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper in a tweet (photographed together in March).
The move sparked a series of changes within the Pentagon, with several senior agency officials being ousted and replaced by Trump loyalists in the days after the election.
On Tuesday, Stewart, Esper’s chief of staff, resigned, along with Acting Under Secretary for Policy James Anderson and Under Secretary for Intelligence Joseph Kernan.
The undersecretary of defense for intelligence, Joseph Kernan, also would have left his position, but it is not clear if he was fired or resigned.
The president appointed Anthony Tata as undersecretary for policy and Ezra Cohen-Watnick as acting undersecretary of intelligence.
Tata, a former Fox News commentator in particular, has been touted as a controversial move after he was unable to win Senate confirmation or pass the Senate Armed Services Committee following disclosures about explosive and racist comments from his past. .
He called former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader” and falsely said he was a Muslim (Obama is a Christian).
Trump fired Esper in a tweet on Monday and replaced him with Christopher Miller, director of the National Counterterrorism Center (pictured).
Meanwhile, Kash Patel was appointed to the position of Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense to work with Miller.
Ross’s replacement has yet to be revealed.
Sources told Reuters that Trump is now expected to target Department of Homeland Security officials next.
Christopher Krebs, who heads the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), has told associates that he hopes to be the next to be fired by the White House, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Krebs reportedly drew Trump’s ire after CISA created a website called ‘Rumor Check’ that debunks misinformation about the election.
The site was designed to accept any foreign misinformation after the Mueller report found that the Russian government had “ interfered in the 2016 presidential election in a widespread and systematic manner. ”
But the site ended up contradicting Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud as he continues to fight the election result.
On the other hand, Bryan Ware, deputy director of cybersecurity at CISA, also confirmed to Reuters that he had submitted his resignation on Thursday.
While Under Secretary for International Affairs Valerie Boyd is also leaving her post, CNN reported.
There were rumors before the election that Trump was bracing for a wave of post-election layoffs with Esper and FBI Director Christopher Wray at the top of the list.
Official defense sources told NBC News the week before the election that Esper had his resignation letter ready should Trump win over Biden.
But Esper’s firing has sparked fears that Trump may be planning to launch military operations against America’s foreign adversaries, with Iran at the top of the list.
Esper had clashed with Trump over a number of things, one of which was Iran and the drone strike that killed Senior General Quassem Soliemani.
Trump’s onslaught of layoffs and hires comes as he surrounds himself with officials with ideologies closer to his own as he refuses to grant Joe Biden the presidential election and continues to make numerous unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
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