US Defense Secretary Mark Esper was fired and replaced with the counterterrorism head Christopher Miller, on Monday by US President Donald Trump. Trump announced the news over a Twitter tweet : "I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate), will be Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately.....Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service". 

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During the US Presidential election, on October 26, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper was Trump’s top security officials  visited India for the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue and signed key agreements. Relationship between Esper's and Trump came close to collapse last summer during civil unrest that triggered a debate within the administration over the proper role of the military in combatting domestic unrest and opposition to using active duty troops to help quell protests in Washington, D.C., angry Trump, and led to wide speculation that the defence chief was prepared to quit if faced with such an issue again.

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The move comes days after US elections results were declared and Democratic leader Joe Biden was named as the President-elect. Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) which completes finalisation of four key pacts identified as crucial to significantly expand India-US strategic ties resulted in the signing of the long-negotiated.

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