WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Mark Esper is traveling beyond Washington for the first time in nearly two months as he looks to highlight and defend a Pentagon approach to fighting the coronavirus pandemic that some Senate Democrats have criticized as slow and disjointed.
Esper was flying Thursday to the headquarters of U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to meet with Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, who is spearheading the military’s support for civilian agencies combating the virus.
It is Esper’s first trip beyond Washington since he visited Norfolk, Virginia, in late March to join President Donald Trump in sending off a Navy hospital ship.