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November 12, 2020

Pentagon Leadership Reshuffle Prompts Fears of "Slow Moving Trump Coup"
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Former Pentagon officials are expressing alarm over President Trump's
firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the purge of other top
officials at the Pentagon and National Security Agency following the
election. Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen said Trump's conduct
is "more akin to a dictatorship than a democracy."

Trump has replaced Esper with former Special Forces officer Chris
Miller, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center. Miller has
faced criticism for refusing to promise that intelligence agencies
wouldn't target Americans based on their political views.

Miller has hired retired Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor as a top
adviser. Macgregor has called for instituting martial law at the
U.S.-Mexico border and shooting unarmed migrants. He has also called for
a speedy withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Trump has also installed Anthony Tata as acting undersecretary of
defense for policy. Tata is a former Fox News commentator who once
called former President Obama "a terrorist leader" and has called Islam
an "oppressive" and "violent" religion.

Former National Security Council official Ezra Cohen-Watnick has become
acting undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security. In 2017,
he pushed for the surveillance of White House staffers as a means to
prevent leaks. He also advocated using covert action to overthrow the
Iranian government.

Retired Four-Star General Barry Mc Caffrey warned, "We are watching a
slow moving Trump coup to defy the Biden election."