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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) warned President Trump on Tuesday that only Congress can authorize a military strike on North Korea, as tensions with Pyongyang continue to escalate. “The American Civil Liberties Union strongly urges you to uphold the Constitution, and the fundamental principle of separation of powers, by recognizing the sole authority of Congress to declare war — and to refrain from the use of force against North Korea in the absence of explicit congressional authorization for the use of force,” the group wrote in a letter to Trump on Tuesday. “This drumbeat of threats over the past...

Defense Secretary James Mattis on Sunday issued a stark warning to North Korea, saying the country would be met with a "massive military response" if it threatened the U.S. or its allies. "Any threat to the United States or its territories including Guam or our allies will be met with a massive military response," Mattis said in a statement outside of the White House after meeting with President Trump. "Kim Jong Un should take heed the United Nations Security Council's unified voice. All members unanimously agreed on the threat North Korea poses. And they remain unanimous in their commitment to...

Defense secretary James Mattis has spoken outside the White House. “We are not looking for the annihilation of North Korea, we have many options,” he says. He also said that “any threat to the United States or its territories including Guam or our allies will be met with a massive military response.”

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis sent a letter to Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist warning the Nordic nation of a negative impact on relations should they sign an anti-nuclear bomb treaty, according to a report in a Swedish newspaper. Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) reports that the letter was registered at the Swedish Department of Defense on Tuesday, and regards Sweden’s intention to sign a treaty banning nuclear bombs when it opens for signatures from any UN member state in September. […] “The implication is that if the government signs the convention banning nuclear weapons, including on Swedish territory, it would...

<p>WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis late Tuesday announced that transgender troops will be allowed to continue serving in the military pending the results of a study by experts.</p> <p>The announcement follows an order from President Trump — first announced in a tweet — declaring that transgender service members can no longer serve in the military, effectively reversing an Obama administration policy. The order also affects the Department of Homeland Security, which houses the Coast Guard.</p>

Defense Secretary James Mattis says transgender troops will be allowed to continue serving in the military while the Pentagon studies the issue. This comes after President Trump reversed an Obama-era policy that would allow trans-soldiers to serve. In a statement the Defense Secretary said once the panel reports its recommendations and he meets with the Homeland Security Secretary, he wll provide his advice to the president. This will allow the Trump administration to decide how to respond to the president’s executive order. He says in the meantime, the policy will remain law.

— Transgender troops will be allowed to continue serving in the military pending a review, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced Tuesday. His announcement comes just days after President Donald Trump directed the military not to recruit transgender troops. Trump initially tweeted that transgender individuals could no longer serve in the military

US Secretary of Defense  James Mattis pledged support to Turkey in its ongoing fight against rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) during talks with the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish and US officials said today.The daylong visit was intended to help smooth fraught relations between the two NATO allies. The biggest thorn is the United States’ partnership against the Islamic State with the PKK’s Syrian franchise, the People’s Protection Units (YPG). Erdogan expressed anger over that alliance to Mattis during a half-hour meeting at the presidential complex. Mattis, in turn, repeated assurances that the US partnership with the YPG is solely tactical and...

In an unannounced trip to Iraq, a country that has seen horrific war and terrorism over the last decade, Secretary of Defense General James Mattis was making a statement. The general landed in Iraq Tuesday morning, just hours after President Trump made an announcement that America will be sending more troops to Afghanistan. Trump made it clear in his remarks that he is going to be empowering his generals to kill the enemy, whom he referred to as “losers.”

Donald Trump’s secretary of defense James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis appeared to suggest those who did not serve the country were “a bunch of pussies.” The retired general made the comments at an address to members of the U.S. Navy last week, and the transcript was made available by the Defense Department website this week. “You will have some of the best days of your life and some of the worst days of your life in the U.S. Navy, you know what I mean?" Mattis told the troops at an event at Naval Base Kitsap, Washington. "That means you're living. That...

Defense Secretary James Mattis isn’t keeping private any of his feelings about what it means to serve in the U.S. Navy. In an Aug. 9 speech, Mattis bluntly praised Navy sailors for their service, telling them it meant “you’re not some pussy sitting on the sidelines.” “You will have some of the best days of your life and some of the worst days of your life in the U.S. Navy, you know what I mean?” Mattis told sailors stationed at Naval Base Kitsap, in Washington state. “That means you're living. That means you're not some pussy sitting on the sidelines,...

U.S. military strategists at the Pentagon have a military solution in place to address the growing threat emanating from North Korea, but they are holding their fire in favor of ongoing diplomatic efforts by Washington and its allies, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Thursday. The Pentagon chief remained largely mum on the details of that military solution, which theoretically would curb Pyongyang’s efforts to develop a nuclear-capable, ballistic missile arsenal, except to say any military option would be a multilateral one involving a number of regional powers in the Pacific. “Do I have military options? Of course, I do. That’s...

The US defense secretary, James Mattis, has warned the North Korean regime that it risked the “end of its regime and the destruction of its people” if it attacked Washington or its allies, as an eruption of brinksmanship from both sides rattled the region. Mattis’s Wednesday reminder to Pyongyang that the allied militaries “possess the most precise, rehearsed and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on Earth”, capped an unprecedented 24 hours of sabre-rattling sparked by Donald Trump’s surprise threat to rain “fire and fury” down on the Pyongyang regime. The defense secretary, however, couched his remarks in the language of...

Derek Harvey was the key figure when it came to the Middle East. He was against the Iran Deal and the funding of Palestinian Authority terror. He called out Islamic Jihad. He tried to force out the Obama holdovers running our foreign policy. And now he's gone. McMaster's purge at the NSC continues. Flynn's people get forced out and replaced with establishment zombies. The Obama holdovers continue to run foreign policy. The swamp is now in full control of the NSC. This one is a really big win for McMaster. And a great loss for America. It will set back...

"We should be disqualified at enlistment because we are medically reliant" Reacting to President Trump’s announcement preventing transgender people in the military, Edie Dixon, a transgender man who identifies as a woman, told the Blaze on July 27 that he agrees with the president’s decision, saying that transgenders are “no better” than diabetics or asthmatics, and “should be disqualified” from the military. According to the Blaze, Dixon is a Trump supporter and a resident of Oregon. When the Blaze’s Allie Stuckey asked Dixon for his reaction to Trump’s announcement last week, Dixon replied, “I’m actually very satisfied. This is Trump...

With Kelly replacing Priebus Gen. Mattis' Iraq clique (Kelly, Mattis, Dunford) now has ✓ White House ✓ DoD ✓ Joint Chiefs Julian Assange‏ @JulianAssange 7h7 hours ago More If you can't fire them don't hire them. Trump can't fire any one of them without risking war with all 3--which he is in no position to do 52 replies 114 retweets 270 likes Warrior Princess‏ @lionhardt77 7h7 hours ago More When you have the former DNI & NSA Dirs calling for a coup may be smart to surround yourself with Generals. Hope they're really on his side. Julian Assange‏ @JulianAssange 7h7...

Forty-five senators, including one Republican, are urging Defense Secretary James Mattis to advise President Trump against implementing a ban on transgender troops he announced this week on Twitter. “We strongly oppose this policy change and urge you to advise the president against it,” the senators wrote in a letter to Mattis on Friday. “This announcement contradicts existing Defense Department policies, undermines our military readiness and puts our transgender service members as well as their commanders in an impossible situation.” The letter was organized by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who has promised to introduce legislation blocking the president from implementing the...

A former secretary of Defense on Friday blasted President Trump for his ban on transgender Americans serving in the armed forces and said that he would have threatened to resign over the order. Former President Clinton Secretary of Defense William Cohen, who previously served as a Republican House lawmaker from Maine, told Sirius XM's "The Joe Madison Show" that Trump abused his power as president when he went around his Defense secretary, James Mattis. "If you were the secretary of Defense and that tweet came out, what would you have done the next morning — or the next day?" host...

Defense Secretary James Mattis was caught off guard by President Trump's announcement that he was banning transgender people from serving in the military, according to a New York Times report. Mattis, who was on vacation at the time of Trump's decision, only had one day's worth of notice before Trump tweeted his announcement of the policy, the paper reported. The report described him as "appalled." Sources close to the Defense secretary told the Times that Mattis was infuriated by the tweets, and saw them as an insult to transgender Americans currently serving in the military. On Wednesday morning, Trump wrote...

Secretary of Defense James Mattis has ordered a full review of any military training not directly relevant to warfighting. Mattis told the services to conduct a review of the “requirements for mandatory force training that does not directly support core tasks,” according to a Friday memo obtained by Military Times. In other words, Mattis wants a full examination of all the hours of burdensome, irrelevant training service members have to undergo before deployment.