Defense Chief Mark Esper Ousts Navy Secretary in SEAL Fallout

Defense Secretary Mark Esper asked and received the resignation of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer on Sunday over his handling of the case of a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes in Iraq that angered President Donald Trump.

“I was not pleased with the way that Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s trial was handled by the Navy,” Trump said in a series of tweets after Spencer’s ouster was announced by the Pentagon. Trump confirmed that Kenneth Braithwaite, the U.S. Ambassador to Norway since 2018, will be nominated as his replacement.

Esper acted after learning Spencer had approached White House officials privately about the case of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher. The request was first reported by the Washington Post.

The secretary lost “trust and confidence in him regarding his lack of candor over conversations with the White House involving the handling of” Gallagher, Defense Department spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in an emailed statement.

Hoffman said Esper learned Spencer had privately proposed to the White House to restore Gallagher’s rank and allow him to retire with his Trident pin while the Navy pursued disciplinary actions, at odds with his public position on the issue. Stripping an individual of the pin allows them to remain in the Navy after leaving the elite SEAL unit.

“I am deeply troubled by this conduct shown by a senior DOD official,” Esper said in the statement. “I have determined that Secretary Spencer no longer has my confidence to continue in his position. I wish Richard well.”

In his resignation letter, which was posted on Twitter, Spencer said he no longer shares “the same understanding with the Commander in Chief who appointed me, in regards to the key principle of good order and discipline.”

“I cannot in good conscience obey an order that I believe violates the sacred oath I took,” Spencer said. , adding that the president deserves a Secretary “aligned with his vision.”

That comment echoed the resignation letter of James Mattis, Trump’s first defense chief, who wrote to Trump in December that “you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours.” Esper was sworn in as secretary in July.

Trump called Braithwaite, a retired Navy Rear Admiral proposed for the post by Esper, “a man of great achievement and success” and said he would “do an outstanding job.” Navy Under Secretary Thomas Modley will fill the role for now, according to the Pentagon.

In the lead-up to to Spencer’s ouster Trump criticized the Navy’s handling of the case in a tweet on Thursday, and even promoted an appearance by Gallagher Sunday on Fox News. He granted clemency to Gallagher on Nov. 15. The SEAL had been acquitted of killing a prisoner in Afghanistan but was found guilty on another charge because he posed next to the prisoner’s corpse.

Trump on Sunday said Gallagher “will retire peacefully with all of the honors that he has earned, including his Trident Pin.”

Spencer, 65, has served as Navy Secretary since August 2017. The former U.S. Marine worked on Wall Street for about 15 years, including time at investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Trump’s tweets on Sunday also referenced Navy contracting procedures and “large cost over-runs” that hadn’t been addressed to his satisfaction.

Bloomberg News reported Nov. 2 that Spencer told Trump months ago to fire him if he wasn’t able to correct persistent problems with the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s costliest ship. “He just said keep going,” Spencer said at the time.

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