Trump administration ousts 11 of the 13 members of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board.
The White House issued the notification on Wednesday and was implemented immediately.point 74 | The high profile members included former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, former ranking member of the House Intelligence committee Jane Harman, former Bush Deputy National Security Adviser JD Crouch II, formal Chief of Naval Operations, former Chief Operating Officer at the Pentagon Rudy de Leon, and retired Admiral Gary Roughhead.point 420 | 1
The officials said they were considering these changes for quite a long time.
The decision was taken quietly by the team on the eve of Thanksgiving day and was later confirmed in a statement to Foreign Policy.point 293 |
It is not clear that what is the status of the two members not yet removed.point 60 | Christopher Miller, Secretary of Defense, said, “It is true that several members of the Department’s Defence policy have been removed.point 187 | 1
We are thankful to all the departing members for their contributions to our national security. Many of them were serving for decades. We are looking forward to adding more competitive members to the board; I’ll announce their names in the next few days.”
It has been only two weeks since Miller has taken the defense secretary position after Trump fired Mark Esper on November 9. Since the removal of Mark Esper, several senior officials are ousted by Trump. Military and civilian officials are concerned that who is going to be eliminated next.
People say the admins are replacing the experts and top officials with alleged figures loyal to Trump. We are not sure why Trump waited until the last month of his presidency to take this decision.
The new appointments include former adviser to Republican Rep: Devin Nunes, Ezra Cohen, and General Anthony Tata, who called Obama a terrorist leader.