The White House's plan to withdraw troops from Germany exposes a new round of tensions between the U.S. President and top military officials, according to a CNN report citing officials.

Currently, there are approximately 34,000 U.S. troops stationed in Germany. President Donald Trump earlier has announced his plan to withdraw 9,500 of them, which immediately drew concerns from senior German officials. And, in turn, raised new questions about Trump's commitment to longstanding cooperation agreements with European allies and the Western military alliance itself.

Read more: Trump to halve U.S. troops in 'delinquent' Germany

Theoretically, plans that involve moving a large number of troops should be coordinated closely with Pentagon. Yet, this time the specific order came from the White House and it has not been backed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

That is a reflection of  Esper's "badly damaged" relationship with Trump, as CNN reported. 

Esper has had several public splits with the president. Earlier this month, he opposed Trump's remarks about deploying active-duty troops to quell the sometimes violent anti-racism protests. 

"The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now," Esper told a news briefing. "I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act. 

According to media reports earlier in the month, Esper believed Trump was going to fire him and was prepared to resign.