WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday that he had accepted Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly’s resignation.
“This morning I accepted Secretary Modly’s resignation. He resigned on his own accord, putting the Navy and the Sailors above self so that the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, and the Navy, as an institution, can move forward,” Esper said in a statement.
Esper said that with President Donald Trump’s approval, Army Undersecretary Jim McPherson would take over as acting Navy Secretary.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Eric Beech; Editing by Chris Reese)
