Has the US President Donald Trump got something special up his sleeve in the next 71 days before he leaves office? The firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper yesterday has left many wondering that the outgoing President has an unfinished agenda to complete which could lead to some action-packed weeks ahead. Speculation is rife in the US political circles that it could even be a military move in Iran, Afghanistan or South China Sea and that the FBI and CIA Directors could be next in Trump's firing line.

"Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service," Trump tweeted while announcing that "highly respected" director of the National Counterterrorism Center Christopher C. Miller would be replacing him. Esper had recently accompanied Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the 2+2 ministerial dialogue in New Delhi and was instrumental in the signing of Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) between the two countries.

It was being anticipated in Washington that Esper, who has been in hot water many times over his run-ins with the President, was getting ready to resign after the election. In an interview to the <em>Military Times</em> done last week but published now, the now former Defense Secretary had said that if his replacement is "a real yes man" then "God help us."

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"At the end of the day, it's as I said—you’ve got to pick your fights. I could have a fight over anything, and I could make it a big fight, and I could live with that — why? Who's going to come in behind me? It’s going to be a real 'yes man.' And then God help us," said Esper in the <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/11/09/exclusive-esper-on-his-way-out-says-he-was-no-yes-man/#.X6mR6dMjMgI.twitter">interview</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">WE WILL WIN!</p>
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1326158760826560515?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While Trump has refused to concede the election — he tweeted "WE WILL WIN" and "WE ARE MAKING BIG PROGRESS. RESULTS START TO COME IN NEXT WEEK. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" a short while ago — his rivals fear that the abrupt firing of Secretary Esper would lead to tumultuous times ahead.

"President Trump is intent on using his final days in office to sow chaos in our American Democracy and around the world… Again and again, Trump's recklessness endangers our national security. It is disturbing and dangerous that, at this precarious moment, our military will now be led by an official who has not been confirmed for this position by the Senate," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a statement.

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While Trump said that "Chris will do a GREAT job!" considering his huge experience in special operations, including Afghanistan and the capturing of Osama bin Laden, his planned actions for the "final days of his Administration" are scaring his rivals. Some like Elissa Slotkin, a former Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense, CIA analyst and Michigan Democrat believe that the precarious transition period will be a challenging one.

"In my experience, there would only be a few reasons to fire a secretary of defense with 72 days left in an administration. One would be incompetence or wrongdoing, which do not seem to be the issue with Secretary Esper," Slotkin said in a series of tweets.

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"A second would be vindictiveness, which would be an irresponsible way to treat our national security. A third would be because the president wants to take actions that he believes his secretary of defense would refuse to take, which would be alarming. Whatever the reason, casting aside a secretary of defense during the volatile days of transition seems to neglect the president's most important duty: to protect our national security," wrote the former Pentagon official.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a Democrat, said that Trump is creating a dangerously unstable national security environment during this transition period.

"Adversaries are watching," he tweeted.

They certainly are but unlike in the past, it seems that right now the politicians of the US — and not the one who are considered "adversaries" — are a much worried lot.

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