Christopher C. Miller

Christopher Charles Miller (born October 15, 1965) is an American retired United States Army Special Forces colonel who served as acting United States secretary of defense from November 9, 2020, to January 20, 2021.

Miller was born in Platteville, Wisconsin, on October 15, 1965, and raised in Iowa City from 1975.

His mother, Lois Maxine Miller, taught at the University of Delaware.

His father, Harvey Dell Miller, was police chief of Iowa City for 13 years, and according to Miller he "believed strongly in the nobility of public service".

He had previously worked as an assistant professor of law and government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Miller served in the military from 1983 to 2014.

Miller attended Iowa City High School, before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from George Washington University in 1987.

He was awarded the Gardiner G. Hubbard Memorial Award in U.S. History for having the highest grade point average in the history department.

He began his career as an enlisted infantryman in the Army Reserve before commissioning as a second lieutenant in 1987 through ROTC.

He joined Special Forces in 1993.

As a major, Miller served as a company commander in 5th Special Forces Group during the invasion of Afghanistan.

He was part of the quick reaction force (QRF) after ODA 574 was hit by a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) in a friendly fire incident.

Over the course of his career, Miller was deployed several times to Afghanistan and Iraq.

He later received a Master of Arts in national security studies from the Naval War College in 2001.

He also graduated from the College of Naval Command and Staff and the Army War College.

In Iraq, he commanded Special Forces units in 2006 and 2007.

His promotion to colonel was approved in December 2009.

Miller served as program executive officer (PEO) for rotary wing programs at U.S. Special Operations Command in 2010.

One of his last assignments as an Army officer was as Director for Special Operations and Irregular Warfare in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict & Interdependent Capabilities at the Pentagon in 2011.

After retiring from the military in 2014, Miller worked as a defense contractor.

Patel is known for efforts to discredit investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Miller's first overseas trip occurred in the third week of November when he visited multiple military units in the Middle East and Africa to include a three-hour stopover in Mogadishu.

Miller served in the civil service as an inspector for the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Oversight from late 2017 until he was detailed to the National Security Council in March 2018.

During his tenure on the NSC, he served as counterterrorism adviser where he was involved in operations against ISIL before leaving in March 2019.

He previously served as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center from August 10 to November 9, 2020.

Before his civilian service in the Department of Defense, Miller was a Green Beret, commanding 5th Special Forces Group in Iraq and Afghanistan, and later spent time as a defense contractor.

Miller's tenure in the Trump administration began as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, confirmed by voice vote in the United States Senate on August 6, 2020.

President Donald Trump named Miller acting defense secretary after firing Mark Esper on November 9, 2020, six days after the 2020 presidential election.

Miller was accused of obstructing the transition to Joe Biden's administration by Biden staff, which Miller denied.

Miller was criticized for his response to the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.

He approved the deployment of National Guard troops from neighboring states to reinforce the D.C. National Guard at 4:41 p.m., three hours after Capitol Police said that they were being overrun and two hours after city officials had asked for such assistance.

Miller later testified that he had no need to speak with the President on January 6 because, "I had all the authority I needed and I knew what had to happen", and he said the delay was because he wanted to avoid a repeat of the Kent State shootings.

Upon the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, Miller was succeeded by then-Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist.

In 2020, he was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism (SOCT).

He was involved in designating Iran, Hezbollah, and American domestic terrorism as threats to the United States.

Trump nominated Miller to the position of Director of the National Counterterrorism Center in March 2020, On 10 August 2020, he began his duties as Director of the NCTC after being confirmed by a Senate voice vote on 6 August 2020.

On November 9, 2020, Miller was appointed as Acting Secretary of Defense, following the termination of Mark Esper.

This occurred while President Trump was a lame duck.

The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mac Thornberry, feared that U.S. adversaries would be emboldened by Trump's sudden withdrawals from conflict zones, and lame-duck purges of advisory boards.

Miller's chief of staff as Acting Secretary of Defense was Kash Patel, a former aide to Congressman Devin Nunes.