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The Pentagon assertion stated Mr. Miller thanked Mr. Maier for his service. However a senior U.S. official stated relations have been strained between Mr. Maier and Mr. Miller, a former Military Inexperienced Beret who later served in counterterrorism jobs on the Pentagon and the White Home’s Nationwide Safety Council earlier than Mr. Trump picked him to switch Mr. Esper within the Pentagon’s prime civilian job.
Mr. Maier, 44, an Air Nationwide Guard intelligence officer who has labored in counterterrorism jobs in Republican and Democratic administrations for twenty years, declined to remark. He not too long ago accomplished a 90-day reservist tour in Kuwait. His firing was reported earlier by CNN.
Whereas Mr. Maier’s backers expressed dismay on the method of his dismissal — summoned noon Monday by the White Home liaison officer on the Pentagon, Joshua Whitehouse, and instructed to filter that day — additionally they criticized the brand new Protection Division management for taking part in to Mr. Trump’s overly optimistic evaluation of the Islamic State’s standing. The officers spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to publicly focus on the scenario.
When Mr. Miller introduced final month that the USA would draw right down to 2,500 troops in each Iraq and Afghanistan by Jan. 15, he trumpeted the demise of the Islamic State. “Due to our greater than 80 companions within the Defeat-ISIS Coalition, we now have destroyed the ISIS caliphate and can guarantee they by no means once more achieve a foothold to assault our folks,” Mr. Miller stated in remarks on Nov. 17.
However two months earlier, in late September, whereas nonetheless in his earlier job as director of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Heart, Mr. Miller struck a extra sobering word in testimony to a Home committee: “ISIS has repeatedly demonstrated the flexibility to rebound from extreme losses over the previous six years by counting on a devoted cadre of veteran midlevel commanders, in depth clandestine networks, and downturns in CT strain to persevere,” referring to counterterrorism strain.
Different counterterrorism officers estimate that the Islamic State, regardless of having misplaced its territorial management in Iraq and Syria, nonetheless has as many as 10,000 guerrilla fighters there, and maintains resilient associates throughout East and West Africa and Afghanistan.
“Chris is a straight-up professional,” Nicholas J. Rasmussen, a former director of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Heart, stated of Mr. Maier. “The concept that is justified as a result of we’ve received the conflict towards ISIS strains credulity.”
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