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Jim Mattis, the former Marine Corps general and Pentagon chief, has lashed 2020 Democratic front-runner Joe Biden for fueling the rise of ISIS by insisting on the total withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq. "You may want a war over. You may declare it over. You may even try to walk away from it. But the bottom line is the enemy gets a vote, as we say in the military, and we simply have got to understand that terrorism is going to be an ambient threat," he said in an NPR interview. As vice president, Biden was tasked by President...

While famously media shy during his time in government, former Secretary of Defense James Mattis offered a brief glimpse into his thoughts on today’s political environment in an essay and interview last week, but the appearance left several questions unanswered. These rare media appearances are not random, as Mattis will be appearing at several events in the coming days to promote his new book, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead. The two pieces delve into why the former Marine Corps general chose to serve as secretary of defense and why he resigned. There are some new details about the journey,...

In late November 2016, I was enjoying Thanksgiving break in my hometown on the Columbia River in Washington state when I received an unexpected call from Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Would I meet with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss the job of secretary of defense? I had taken no part in the election campaign and had never met or spoken to Mr. Trump, so to say that I was surprised is an understatement. Further, I knew that, absent a congressional waiver, federal law prohibited a former military officer from serving as secretary of defense within seven years of departing military...

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis took several implicit swipes at President Trump’s leadership in an op-ed published Wednesday, warning about the fallout from fractured alliances and increasing divisiveness under the current administration. Mattis’ comments were included in a lengthy essay adapted from a forthcoming book and published in The Wall Street Journal. They amount to the most extensive remarks from him about his time in the Trump administration since he quietly resigned in January.

Seven months after General James Mattis left his post following a series of policy disputes with US President Donald Trump, Army veteran Mark Esper has been confirmed as Secretary of Defense. Esper, who was confirmed by the Senate in a vote of 90-8, is taking the reins from acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and comes into his role amid a series of global challenges. Those challenges include mounting tensions with Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and the growing military challenges posed by Russia and China in the Middle East. With the growing tensions in the Persian Gulf, the Pentagon...

On Morning Joe, Tuesday, Mika Brzezinski says she'd "love to hear" from former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis or other former members of the Trump administration to hear about the "dysfunction" in the Trump administration and the "erosion of our credibility on the world stage." Brzezinski implored Mattis to contact her to trash the Trump administration and the standing of the United States in the world. The moment came after the BBC's Katty Kay said that foreign allies have become skeptical of US claims regarding Iran, and would need hard evidence before supporting any American move in the area. Said Brzezinski:...

Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has a book coming out this summer, but he warns that it will not be a "tell-all" about President Donald Trump. "Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead" will be published on July 16, Random House announced Tuesday. Co-written with Bing West, the book will be an "expansive account" of the retired general's military career, according to the publisher. Mattis will write about conflicts from Afghanistan to Iraq and use those experiences for lessons on war and peace. The book was under contract before Mattis became defense secretary in early 2017, although it will touch...

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis declined to carry out orders from President Trump or otherwise limited his options in various attempts to prevent tensions with North Korea, Iran and Syria from escalating, The New Yorker reported Monday, the latest account of Trump’s own officials trying to check his worst instincts. "The president thinks out loud. Do you treat it like an order? Or do you treat it as part of a longer conversation? We treated it as part of a longer conversation," a former senior national security official told The New Yorker. "We prevented a lot of bad things from...

Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, who was sentenced to prison for leaking classified documents and subsequently freed by President Barack Obama, inspired West Point graduate and communist Spenser Rapone to infiltrate the military. Rapone has come under fire and become the subject of an Army investigation after reports emerged of his open and unabashed support for communism and tweets he made calling for political violence and referring to Secretary of Defense James Mattis as an “evil, vile f***.” In a Reddit post regarding Manning, Rapone spelled out some of his motivations for remaining in the military and exactly what he wanted...

A close adviser to ex-Defense Secretary James Mattis has written a "sometimes shocking" book detailing the "complicated relationship" between Mattis and President Donald Trump, and describing how Mattis worked to block some of Trump's proposals, according to a press release obtained by NBC News ahead of the book's official distribution. Written by the secretary's former communications director, retired Navy Cmdr. Guy "Bus" Snodgrass, "Holding the Line: Inside the Pentagon With General Mattis" is scheduled for publication by Sentinel in October. The press release describes the book as "an insider's sometimes shocking account of how Defense Secretary James Mattis led the...

They think pulling out of Syria and Afghanistan would be a debacle. They think North Korea cannot be trusted. They think the Islamic State is still a threat to America. They think Russia is bad and NATO is good. The trouble is their president does not agree. More than two years into his administration, the disconnect between President Trump and the Republican establishment on foreign policy has rarely been as stark.

The new year began as the old year ended - with the establishment up in arms over generals leaving the Trump administration. How would the world survive the departures of John Kelly and James Mattis? "Today has just been a cascade of what would be generally seen as absolutely apocalyptic news in any other presidency…Let's start tonight with the resignation of the Secretary of Defense James Mattis," Rachel Maddow lamented. "Apocalyptic." Forget about war or disease or poverty. The apocalypse is when America's elected president is no longer supervised by the unelected ruling establishment. They even gave it a name...

The new year began as the old year ended - with the establishment up in arms over generals leaving the Trump administration. How would the world survive the departures of John Kelly and James Mattis? "Today has just been a cascade of what would be generally seen as absolutely apocalyptic news in any other presidency…Let's start tonight with the resignation of the Secretary of Defense James Mattis," Rachel Maddow lamented. "Apocalyptic." Forget about war or disease or poverty. The apocalypse is when America's elected president is no longer supervised by the unelected ruling establishment. They even gave it a name...

One would think that Trump’s announcement of pulling out of Syria was equivalent to FDR saying we were done fighting the Japanese after our victory at Midway. I am a fan of Mattis if for no other reason than liking a military leader known as “Mad Dog.” That certainly is better than one nicknamed “Pudgy.” But there was good reason for this guy to leave and you would never hear that from the MSM. What you heard from the media was a cavalcade of bemoaners questioning whether this was the de facto end of Trump’s presidency. So much so that...

Days before President Trump has to make a critical decision on whether to hold up the Iran nuclear deal, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis openly split with him on abandoning the agreement, the second senior member of the president’s national security team to recently contradict him. Mr. Mattis told senators on Tuesday that it was in America’s interest to stick with the deal, which Mr. Trump has often dismissed as a “disaster.” “Absent indications to the contrary, it is something that the president should consider staying with,” Mr. Mattis told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee after being repeatedly pressed...

President Trump denounced former Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday, saying at a cabinet meeting he "essentially" fired the former Marine Corps general from the top Pentagon post. "What's he done for me? How had he done in Afghanistan? Not too good," Trump said, according to a Bloomberg News journalist, who reported a quote relayed by a colleague in the room. "As you know, President Obama fired him, and essentially so did I," Trump said at the meeting, attended by Mattis' replacement, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

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Defense Secretaries come and go. Obama had four of them in 8 years who had some unkind things to say about his leadership or lack of it. There was no talk of chaos or of the only adult in the room leaving. Suddenly the media is in meltdown after “Mad Dog” Mattis announced his departure from the Cabinet after President Trump announced our departure from Syria: Foreign Policy Pentagon reporter Lara Seligman wrote the press corp is contemplating suicide over Mattis’ resignation, “I think I speak for all national security reporters tonight when I say I’m about ready to jump...

The president needs help uprooting a Washington foreign-policy establishment that has mindlessly kept the U.S. military involved in unnecessary wars across the globe. The next top military leader must share this goal. Secretary of Defense James Mattis is a good man and a patriot who has served his country with distinction. President Trump was right, however, in asking for his resignation because Mattis represents the Washington foreign-policy establishment that has mindlessly kept the U.S. military involved in unnecessary wars across the globe. President Donald Trump ran on a realist platform, decrying “stupid wars,” and vowing that there would be “...

Don’t get me wrong, Christmas was wonderful: from the Nutcracker performance on the 23rd right through the turkey dinner with all the trimmings + five late yesterday. And now it’s Boxing Day, and that’s where I’d like to be: nestled down in a box to sleep for about 48 hours. As my batteries grow older it seems to take longer to recharge them once they’ve been run down.And I feel I need a full charge to deal with people who told us in 2016/17 that PDJT was a warmonger who would entangle us in conflicts all over the globe and...