"Significant text is being improperly withheld from publication in Secretary Esper's manuscript under the guise of classification", Esper's lawsuit filed in a federal district court in Washington, DC, says, as quoted by The New York Times on Sunday.
According to the suit, the withheld text is "crucial" to telling certain important stories about his tenure under former US President Donald Trump.
"I am more than disappointed the current administration is infringing on my First Amendment constitutional rights. And it is with regret that legal recourse is the only path now available for me to tell my full story to the American people", Esper said in a statement on Sunday.
According to the lawsuit, the former Pentagon chief submitted the manuscript of his book to the Department of Defence around May 2021 for the mandatory pre-publication review process that executive branch employees must abide by.
9 November 2020, 18:00 GMT
Esper said he "engaged in extensive interactions and coordination" with the Defence Department's Office of Pre-publication and Security Review (DoDOPSR). In early October, Esper received an email from the DoDOPSR informing him that the review was complete and that he would be sent a copy of pages that needed to be amended. In turn, Esper contacted the Pentagon to find out why the redactions had been requested. His questions, however, remained unanswered.
Esper claims he then sent an email to current Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on 8 November, expressing his concerns about the pre-publication review of the manuscript, particularly the lack of written explanations for the requested amendments.
In his email to Austin, the ex-Pentagon chief claimed that he was asked not to quote Donald Trump in the memoir, urged not to use certain verbs and nouns while describing historical events, and called on to remove his perspective on the actions of other countries and conversations he had with foreign officials.
The Pentagon is aware of the former defence secretary’s concerns, with spokesperson John Kirby telling The Hill that "as with all such reviews, the department takes seriously its obligation to balance national security with an author's narrative desire. Given that this matter is now under litigation, we will refrain from commenting further".
Esper's book, titled "A Sacred Oath", is due to be published in May 2022.
Former US President Donald Trump fired Esper from the defence chief post last November. Esper had been expected to be let go since at least June 2020, after disagreeing with Trump on various issues such as opposing the then-US president's idea of using active-duty troops to quell unrest and riots in the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody.