Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
President United States of America, Donald Trump, appointed a number of people loyal to him in the Ministry of Defense (Pentagon), after firing Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
As reported Associated PressWednesday (11/11), among Trump loyalists who were appointed to officials at the Pentagon is a former television source Fox News, Anthony Tata.
The situation left Pentagon officials from both civilian and military circles wondering who else would be replaced. They also worry about being removed or transferred if they are deemed not loyal enough to Trump.
On the other hand, the reshuffle of Pentagon officials seemed to drag the military, which had not been in politics, into the vortex of the polemic after the US presidential election. In addition, this is also considered to be able to make the transition of government not run smoothly.
After Esper was fired, Trump appointed the Director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center, Christopher Miller, as his replacement.
A number of Esper’s subordinates then declared their resignation. The US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Policy, James Anderson, decided to resign from his position on Tuesday (10/11) morning local time.
He was immediately replaced by Tata, who is a retired high-ranking US Army officer with the last rank of brigadier general.
However, Tata will not serve as acting US Defense Secretary, and will continue to fill the position left by Anderson. Tata is a retired general who is known to be loyal to Trump.
However, he is not a candidate who is looked at by Congress, because two years ago he tweeted that Islam is the most oppressive and violent religion.
He even had time to criticize President Barack Obama as a terrorist leader. However, the teaser was later removed.
The Pentagon official who resigned apart from Anderson was Deputy Defense Minister for Intelligence, Vice Admiral (retired) Joseph Kernan.
Kernan’s position was later replaced by Ezra Cohen-Watnick.
The US Defense Secretary’s Chief of Staff, Jen Stewart, also decided to resign and was replaced by Miller’s subordinates, Kash Patel.
Patel and Cohen-Watnick have worked together on the National Security Council and are Trump loyalists. Patel also often accompanies Trump during the final round of the presidential election campaign.
Additionally, Patel is a former prosecutor on national security issues at the US Department of Justice. He also served as a special staff member of the House of Representatives for the Republican faction from California, Devin Nunes, who is a member of the US House of Representatives Intelligence Commission.
Patel is said to be linked to efforts to discredit the results of a joint team investigation into Russian intervention in the 2016 US presidential election.
While serving on the National Security Council, Patel was sent to Syria to negotiate the release of two US citizens, one of them journalist Austin Tice, who was held hostage.
Meanwhile, Cohen-Watnick served as staff at the White House.
It is not certain whether this reshuffle will have an impact on policy patterns at the Pentagon. Because so far the Pentagon has consisted of civilian and military circles who carry out a work pattern with a strict chain of command.
(ayp / ayp)
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