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Undated: James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is the 26th United States Secretary of Defense and a former United States Marine Corps general.
Mattis commissioned in the Marine Corps through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps after graduating from Central Washington University. A career soldier, he gained a reputation for intellectualism and eventually advanced to the rank of general. Mattis served in the Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq. From 2007 to 2010, he commanded the United States Joint Forces Command and concurrently served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. He was Commander of United States Central Command from 2010 to 2013. After retiring from the military, he served in several private sector roles, including as a board member of Theranos.
Mattis was nominated as Secretary of Defense by President-elect Trump and confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2017. He needed a waiver from Congress to allow his nomination to be considered, as he had only been separated from the military for the previous three years despite U.S. federal law requiring at least seven years of retirement for former military personnel to be appointed Secretary of Defense.[4] As Secretary of Defense, Mattis has affirmed the United States' commitment to defending longtime ally South Korea in the wake of the North Korea crisis.[5][6] An opponent of proposed collaboration with Russia on military matters,[7] Mattis has consistently stressed Russia's threat to the world order.[8] Mattis has occasionally voiced his disagreement with certain Trump administration policies, opposing the proposed withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal,[9] and has criticized budget cuts that hamper the ability to monitor the impacts of climate change.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Mattis
-- 2016 --
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December 1: Trump picks retired Marine Gen. James Mattis for secretary of defense
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-has-chosen-retired-marine-gen-james-mattis-for-secretary-of-defense/2016/12/01/6c6b3b74-aff9-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b492b9be3424
-- 2017 --
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May 29: James Mattis, a Warrior in Washington
The former Marine Corps general spent four decades on the front lines. How will he lead the Department of Defense?
On January 22nd, two days after President Trump was inaugurated, he received a memo from his new Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, recommending that the United States launch a military strike in Yemen. In a forty-year career, Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general and a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, had cultivated a reputation for being both deeply thoughtful and extremely aggressive. By law and by custom, the position of Defense Secretary is reserved for civilians, but Mattis was still a marine at heart. He had been out of the military for only three years (the rule is seven), and his appointment required Congress to pass a waiver. For the first time in his professional life, he was going to the Pentagon in a suit and tie.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/29/james-mattis-a-warrior-in-washington
-- 2018 --
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September 5: Mattis to Spicer: ‘I’ve killed people for a living. If you call me again, I’m going to f--king send you to Afghanistan’
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis didn’t favorably receive former Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s repeated requests to get the retired Marine Corps general to appear on numerous talk shows, according to an excerpt from Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, “Fear: Trump in the White House."
According to one passage in the book, an exasperated Mattis, having answered “no” a number of times already, lashed out at Spicer, who is an officer in the Navy Reserve.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/09/05/mattis-to-spicer-ive-killed-people-for-a-living-if-you-call-me-again-im-going-to-f-king-send-you-to-afghanistan/
December 19: Republicans rip Trump’s surprise Syria withdrawal in meeting with Pence
GOP senators told the vice president they were outraged by Trump’s move.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Pence he was "personally offended" to read about the decision in the news rather than hearing from the president or his aides. Graham has grown close to Trump and has generally praised him though he often criticized the president during the 2016 campaign.
"We're going to hold the administration accountable for this decision," Graham recounted telling Pence. "If Obama had done this, all of us would be going nuts because it's such a bad idea. The job of the Congress is to hold the executive branch accountable. He's the commander in chief, but he needs to be held accountable for his decisions. And I want hearings as soon as possible."
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker also told reporters that he was blindsided by the announcement and is seeking answers from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Leading Democrats on the panel also expressed concern.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/19/trump-us-troops-in-syria-1068734
December 20: As recently as March, many of the Trump administration’s top officials on national security – including Defense Secretary James Mattis, then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and White House National Security Advisor John Bolton – all declared with confidence that the United States was committed to a long-term military commitment in Syria. Their boss disagreed.
After weeks of contradictions, in which the president and his team sent competing signals about U.S. policy in Syria, the Washington Post, citing White House advisers, reported that Trump was “operating on a tornado of impulses – and with no clear strategy.”
It is difficult, at least for now, to assess the details of the administration’s new policy, because no one seems to know what it is. Will any U.S. forces remain in Syria? When will the withdrawal begin? When will it end? What has the White House done to prepare for the likely consequences?
[These are life-or-death questions in one of the most complex security environments on the planet, and neither the president nor anyone in his administration has even tried to provide the most basic answers.]
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-syria-withdrawal-case-study-post-policy-governing
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December 20: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned on Thursday while citing a litany of differences with President Donald Trump on over how to treat allies and the need for a more "resolute" approach to Russia.
His departure ends a nearly two-year stint in which Mattis went from a darling of the Cabinet to a dissident on a host of issues, including Trump's desire for a Space Force and his deployment of thousands of troops to the U.S.-Mexican border. But the final straw may have been Trump's abrupt announcement this week that he would pull all U.S. forces from Syria, a move that shocked key allies in the region.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/20/mattis-to-retire-in-february-trump-says-1072150
December 20: Jim Mattis quits as Pentagon chief after clashes with Trump, including over Syria exit and abandoning Kurds
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/21/world/politics-diplomacy-world/jim-mattis-quits-pentagon-chief-clashes-trump-including-syria-exit-abandoning-kurds/#.XBwwGaUoHTQ
December 20: Jim Mattis, the four-star Marine general turned defense secretary, resigned on Thursday in protest of President Trump’s decision to withdraw 2,000 American troops from Syria, where they have been fighting the Islamic State.
Officials said Mr. Mattis went to the White House on Thursday afternoon in a last attempt to convince Mr. Trump to keep American troops in Syria. He was rebuffed, and told the president that he was resigning as a result.
“This is scary,” Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a tweet. He called Mr. Mattis “an island of stability amidst the chaos of the Trump administration.”
“As we’ve seen with the President’s haphazard approach to Syria, our national defense is too important to be subjected to the President’s erratic whims,” Mr. Warner wrote in the Twitter post.
Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Twitter that Mr. Mattis’s resignation letter “makes it abundantly clear that we are headed towards a series of grave policy errors which will endanger our nation, damage our alliances & empower our adversaries.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/us/politics/jim-mattis-defense-secretary-trump.html
December 20: Defense Secretary James Mattis, who strongly opposed President Trump’s abrupt decision to yank US troops from Syria, will leave office at the end of February, the commander-in-chief announced Thursday.
“General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February, after having served my Administration as Secretary of Defense for the past two years. During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with respect to the purchase of new fighting equipment,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
But Mattis, a retired general, suggested in a scathing resignation letter that he could no longer work for Trump — detailing his belief in strong relations with traditional US allies, whom Trump has regularly scorned.
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“One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships,” Mattis wrote to Trump in a letter read aloud by a reporter on CNN.
“While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies.”
https://nypost.com/2018/12/20/james-mattis-is-out-as-defense-secretary-trump-announces/
December 20: “My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion on these issues,” Mattis wrote. “We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.”
The tone of Mattis’s resignation letter clashed with Trump’s own announcement, which came shortly before the letter was released. Trump characterized Mattis’s decision to quit as a retirement.
Mattis ... was considered by many to be one of the president’s most critical Cabinet members in part because he acted as a strong check against Trump’s worst national security impulses.
https://www.vox.com/2018/12/20/17168030/mattis-trump-defense-secretary-retires-tweet
December 21: Mattis resignation triggered by phone call between Trump and Erdoğan
US president complied with Turkish leader’s demands and took own advisers by surprise, accounts say
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/21/james-mattis-resignation-trump-erdogan-phone-call
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