{"id":65221,"date":"2020-11-09T22:55:22","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T22:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/11\/09\/always-do-the-right-thing-mark-esper-issues-his-last-memo-to-the-force\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:14:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:14:45","slug":"always-do-the-right-thing-mark-esper-issues-his-last-memo-to-the-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/11\/09\/always-do-the-right-thing-mark-esper-issues-his-last-memo-to-the-force\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Always do the right thing\u2019: Mark Esper issues his last memo to the force"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As former Defense Secretary Mark Esper<\/a> packed up his Pentagon office Monday, he released a final memo to the department. urging troops and DoD civilians to \u201calways do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump fired Esper<\/a> after months of speculation that the Pentagon\u2019s top official was on thin ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile I step aside knowing that there is much more we could accomplish together to advance America\u2019s national security, there is much achieved in the time we had to improve the readiness, capabilities, and professionalism of the joint force, while fundamentally transforming and preparing it for the future,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper issued a final memo to the force after his firing Nov. 9, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Esper told Military Times in a Nov. 4 interview that he had no intention of resigning from his post, though he had heard the rumors that the president intended to fire him after the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, look, I mean \u2015 my soldiers don\u2019t get to quit,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if I\u2019m going to quit, it better be over something really, really big. And otherwise, look, I\u2019m going to do what I\u2019ve always done, which is try and shape it the best I can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump replaced Esper with Chris Miller, a retired Special Forces officer who had been serving as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, as acting defense secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller is expected to serve in that role through Jan. 20, when President-elect Joe Biden is expected to be inaugurated.<\/p>\n\n\n\t