Acting Defense Secretary and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient Mark Esper said the Department of Defense’s “priorities remain unchanged†and the National Defense Strategy will continue to serve as DoD’s guiding document, USNI News reported Monday.Â
In a Monday memo to DoD personnel, the former U.S. Army secretary wrote that the strategy has three lines of effort and those are to establish a more lethal force, build up alliances and seek new partners and reform internal practices within the Pentagon. President Trump nominated Esper to serve as permanent defense secretary after Patrick Shanahan stepped down and withdrew his name from consideration for the top job at DoD.Â
Previously, Esper served as vice president for government relations at Raytheon and senior staff member in the Senate.
