Mattis: Get unnecessary training off warfighters’ backs

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has ordered a review of all the administrative and training requirements that prevent trigger pullers and pilots alike from focusing on warfighting. In the memo obtained by Military Times, Mattis on Friday directed the services, the National Guard Bureau and the combatant commanders to determine what changes are needed to give each branch […]

U.S. defense secretary says Syria dispersed warplanes, retains chemical weapons

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that Syria had dispersed its warplanes in recent days and that it retained chemical weapons, an issue he said would have to be taken up diplomatically. The United States launched dozens of missiles earlier this month against a Syrian air base in response to a chemical attack […]

U.S. defense chief says North Korea has ‘got to be stopped’

LONDON — North Korea must be stopped on its path toward being able to threaten the United States with nuclear attack, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday in a stark expression of America’s top national security concern at the moment. He emphasized diplomatic means of changing Pyongyang’s “reckless” agenda. On his first visit to […]

Republicans growing frustrated that ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis is too liberal

Out of all of Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointees, it was a soldier [Marine] nicknamed “Mad Dog” whose nomination to lead the Department of Defense that prompted an unusual sigh of collective relief. Unlike the other neophytes and extremists in his White House menagerie, renowned general James Mattis was received with bipartisan affirmation, hailed by Democrats […]

Exclusive: U.S. weighs deploying up to 1,000 ‘reserve’ troops for IS fight

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is weighing a deployment of up to 1,000 American soldiers to Kuwait to serve as a reserve force in the fight against Islamic State as U.S.-backed fighters accelerate the offensive in Syria and Iraq, U.S. officials told Reuters. Proponents of the option, which has not been previously reported, said it […]

Mattis wanted this woman as his second-in-command — here’s why she turned him down

Michèle Flournoy met with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in December about coming on board as his deputy, but she ultimately turned down the job. A roundtable discussion in Politico Magazine published on Monday finally reveals why: Her own conscience would have made it difficult. “When [Mattis] called me to ask me to consider ways to help, I […]

Ex-NATO Chief praises Trump’s national security team ‘now that Flynn has been dismissed’

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The Former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO on Tuesday praised the national security team being shaped under the Trump administration as “first class” now that retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn is out of the picture. “The good news,” said Adm. James Stavridis (Ret.) to attendees of the AFCEA West 2017 conference in a keynote address delivered […]

Mattis won’t rule out putting troops on the ground in Syria

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis downplayed reports that the Pentagon was considering deploying US ground combat troops to Iraq and Syria, but he didn’t rule it out. Asked about a CNN report that the Pentagon might propose sending US troops to expedite the fight against ISIS, Mattis said he was not “comfortable answering on my own […]

North Korea at the top of the agenda as Mattis heads to Seoul

SEOUL — Plans to deploy an American antimissile battery to South Korea and the growing North Korean threat will be at the top of James Mattis’s agenda this week when the new defense secretary visits South Korea and Japan on his first foreign trip. Mattis, a retired Marine general nicknamed “Mad Dog,” will meet with […]

Trump’s draft executive order would dramatically increase U.S. military strength

A draft executive order obtained by The Washington Post would call on new Defense Secretary James Mattis to significantly boost the size and strength of America’s military while placing unnecessary programs on the chopping block. According to the three-page document, President Donald Trump would direct Mattis to immediately carry out a thirty-day “readiness review” in […]