As published (CNN - July 23, 2020) - On Thursday, Mark Esper will have served exactly one year as secretary of defense but the last few months have been the toughest of his tenure as tensions with the White House have spilled out in public.

With just under six months to go until inauguration day, Esper is walking a political tightrope. Defense officials tell CNN he has had to make time to focus on day-to-day crisis management alongside chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to try and prevent President Donald Trump from making any disastrous decisions that could damage national security or demoralize the military.



A senior defense official says Esper still has achieved several goals aimed at reshaping the department to make troops more readily able to deploy in a crisis but some within the Pentagon believe it's possible Esper may be put in a similar position to Trump's first defense secretary, James Mattis, if the President makes a decision he feels he is unable to accept. Mattis resigned when he felt the President made an unacceptable decision by deciding to withdraw troops from Syria.