Pentagon purge fears mount as top policy official resigns

The acting undersecretary of defense for policy, James Anderson, resigned on Tuesday, adding to worries that he is only the beginning of an exodus at the Pentagon in the aftermath of Defense Secretary Mark Esper's firing on Monday, Politico reports.

With Anderson out, there is potentially an opening for Anthony Tata to take over the Pentagon's top policy job; Tata had been President Trump's original pick for the seat, but failed to earn enough support among Republican senators to clear the confirmation hearing process due in part to his history of Islamophobic comments, including calling former President Barack Obama a "terrorist leader" and Islam "the most oppressive violent religion that I know of," Defense News reports. Tata has instead been serving as the deputy undersecretary for policy, the No. 2 job, since August.

Anderson is technically the confirmed deputy undersecretary for policy, but has been acting in the top job. His resignation was expected, since he's reportedly "pushed back on several Trump loyalists the White House tried to install at [the Defense Department]," Politico writes.

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Esper warned in a departing interview about the dangers of having "yes men" in the Defense Department. "That one of Trump's Cabinet officials would literally say 'God help us' about a situation in which we now find ourselves should send shock waves through our body politic," wrote The Washington Post's Aaron Blake on Monday in response.