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Mattix is an administrator. He may view his role as maintaining stability and continuity in uncertain and changing times. He may be prioritizing and concentrating on what he views as most important, or trying to mediate between the president and the military establishment that the White House has to work with.

If Mattix is deliberately undercutting the president, he has to go - and he is going - but if he were a yes-man or a clone of the president, that might not have been for the better. An inexperienced president does need somebody who can push back sometimes.

Tillerson won't be taking much of his time leading the Boy Scouts of America from now on; he allowed gay troop leaders, and now the venerable institution is considering bankruptcy in response to gay rape claims.

Not sure what that has to do with Mattix, but those rape charges (and the decline in BSA membership) go back to before Tillerson and the changes in policy. The implication the writer's making here suggests he may not be the most reliable analyst.