New acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper is bad news for China
by Tom Rogan
| June 18, 2019 03:59 PM
"Cannon to the right of them / Cannon to the left of them / Cannon in front of them / Volley’ed and thundered."
— Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
Current Secretary of the Army and newly announced acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper is delivering a similar message of deterrent threat to China. That makes him well-placed to sustain the American-led international order in the 21st century.
Like Patrick Shanahan, the man he'll replace, Esper is a former defense contractor rather than a career military officer à la Jim Mattis. But like both Mattis and Shanahan, Esper appears ready to confront China's threat. Positively referencing American alliances at the Atlantic Council in May, Esper observed,
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/new-acting-defense-secretary-mark-esper-is-bad-news-for-china
