Defense Secretary Esper: 'I Don't Support' Using Troops Against Protests Breaking with President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday that he does not support invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy active duty forces to quell civil unrest and added that he regretted using the word "battlespace" to describe areas gripped by protest. "I don't support invoking the Insurrection Act," Esper said, referring to a statute the president could invoke the deploy troops to respond to the protests. Trump threatened Monday to send U.S. military forces to cities and states that fail to quell violence spiraling from protests over the death of a black man in police custody. Esper has authorized the movement of several active-duty Army units to military bases just outside the nation's capital, but they have not been called to action. https://www.newsmax.com/us/esper-insurrection-act/2020/06/03/id/970334/ must be another Jared Kushner pick