Donald Trump nominates Mark Esper as Secretary of Defence: White House
Mark Esper
The United States President Donald Trump has nominated Mark Esper to be the Secretary of Defence, the White House said late Friday, news agency AFP reported.
Esper, who is Secretary of the Army, was named acting Pentagon chief after Patrick Shanahan withdrew his name from consideration for the role this week, citing family concerns.
Trump also said he plans to nominate David Norquist, who currently serves as the Pentagon's comptroller, to be deputy defence secretary.
Esper, who is yet to be confirmed by the Senate, is the third man to lead the Pentagon in last six months.
He replaces Shanahan who was thrust into the role in an acting capacity in January after Jim Mattis abruptly resigned over policy differences with Trump.
Unlike Shanahan, who had no military experience, 55-year-old Esper served in the 1991 Gulf War as part of the famous 101st Airborne Division of the US Army.
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Esper had been a senior executive at the Raytheon defence firm for seven years when he was tapped by Trump to be Army Secretary in 2017.
Meanwhile, as acting SecretaryEsper will make his international debut as hewill travel to the NATO Defence Ministerial meeting in Brussels later this week.
"The focus of his meetings will be reinforcing the US commitment to strengthening the NATO alliance, ensuring more equitable burden sharing, bolstering NATO readiness and addressing regional security issues," the statement said.
The meeting comes as NATO grapples with a dispute between alliance members the United States and Turkey over Ankara's decision to purchase a Russian air defence system.
(With inputs from agencies)