In selecting Army Secretary Mark Esper to succeed Patrick Shanahan as acting secretary of defense, President Trump has picked a combat veteran whose views are more likely to align with those of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and serve as a bulwark against the more hawkish national security adviser John Bolton.
Esper and Pompeo, both former Army officers, went through the U.S. Military Academy at West Point together, class of 1986.
Esper’s views on warfare were shaped as an infantry officer in the 1991 Persian Gulf War assigned to the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, in which he was awarded a Bronze Star, among other military decorations.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner last month, Esper said what has changed the most since he served a young captain in Operation Desert Storm is the shift from high-intensity conflict with tank-on-tank battles to low-intensity warfare fighting insurgents and terrorist groups.
Now, Esper says, with the rise of China and Russia, the United States has to think more about high-end warfare, or what the Pentagon calls “the era of great power competition.”
“One of the most dangerous places is high-intensity conflict. That’s where we could a major war, and it would have a very significant impacts on the United States,” Esper told the Washington Examiner. “So we have to build an army, a military, if you will, that’s capable of dealing with, again, Russia or China, because we know that over the last 18 years as we focused on Iraq and Afghanistan, the Russians and Chinese focused on modernizing their force and trying to close the gap with the United States. That’s what has our attention right now.”
Esper has something Shanahan lacked, namely combat experience, but he shares something Shanahan had to work to overcome, a career with a major defense contractor. Shanahan was a longtime executive with Boeing. Esper, 56, spent seven years as vice president for government relations at Raytheon, which just agreed to merge with United Technologies to form the country’s second-largest defense and aerospace company.
Esper and his wife Leah have been married for 28 years and have three adult children, according to his official bio.
Trump named Esper acting defense secretary but has not said if he will nominate him for the post on a more permanent basis. Top Republicans in Congress are urging Trump to fill the vacancy quickly.
“Secretary Esper has a long history of dedicated service to this nation, and he has shown excellent judgment in his current position, which I expect will continue,” Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “As I’ve said before, for the sake of our national security, we need a confirmed Secretary of Defense — not just an acting — and I hope we can get to that point as quickly as possible.”
“However well-qualified Secretary Esper may be, it is critical that the president nominate, and that the Senate confirm, a permanent secretary of defense as quickly as possible,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee. “The uncertainty surrounding this vacant office encourages our enemies and unsettles our allies.”
