The White House has nominated Army Secretary Mark Esper to head the Pentagon. The US has not had a Secretary of Defense since December 2018

The White House officially nominated Mark Esper for the post of head of the Pentagon.

Esper has been acting head of the Pentagon since mid-June. Now, after the nomination and before the confirmation of the candidacy by the Senate, he will formally return to his previous post - Secretary of the US Army.

• The US Department of Defense has been without a leader since December 2018, when James Mattis resigned over disagreement with Donald Trump's decision to withdraw troops from Syria.
• Patrick Shanahan was acting secretary of defense from January to June. After the official nomination, he resigned from the position, stating that he wanted to spend more time with his family. The media wrote that this happened against the backdrop of the start of an investigation into domestic violence, which was launched by the FBI against Shanahan.