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SecDef-Designate James Mattis Nomination Thread
Topic Started: Jan 12 2017, 04:31 PM (64 Views)
Webster
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(The Guardian) Background
--One of the most highly respected military officers of his generation goes before the Senate on Thursday facing questions about the constitutional propriety of his holding the most important post in the US defense establishment.

There is little Senate opposition to the recently retired marine general James Mattis becoming secretary of defense; both Democrats and Republicans unsettled by Donald Trump’s inclinations on national security consider Mattis to be a familiar and stabilizing factor.

But “Mad Dog” Mattis retired from the Marine Corps in 2013, meaning he falls well short of having notched up the required seven years out of uniform before a member of the military can run the Pentagon – a requirement that underpins the subordination of the military to civilian control enshrined in the constitution. While none in Congress see a coup on the horizon, defense analysts have long warned of a gradual erosion of civilian control and depoliticization, chiefly around both parties’ increasing habit of signing up retired military support for their presidential candidates every four years.

That concern was sufficiently intense to prompt the Senate armed services committee, before which Mattis will testify on Thursday, to hold a separate hearing on Tuesday on civilian control. The top Democrat on the committee, Jack Reed, himself an army veteran, expressed alarm that confirming Mattis would set a precedent damaging “an essential tenet of our civil and military relations”. John McCain, the Arizona Republican and Trump critic who chairs the committee, agreed “civilians have the final say” but said he considered Mattis an “exceptional public servant” who would merit an exemption.

McCain’s assessment of Mattis is widely shared in US defense circles. The retired general with the call sign “Chaos” has been a fixture of the post-9/11 era, leading marines in combat in Afghanistan and repeatedly in Iraq; co-captaining a seminal revision of the army/Marine Corps counterinsurgency field manual; and running US Central Command, which for 16 years has supervised US wars, airstrikes and raids throughout the Middle East and South Asia.

Along the way, Mattis acquired a reputation for extreme studiousness as well as a bellicosity that saw him fall out of step with Barack Obama on Iran, something encapsulated by another of his nicknames: the Warrior Monk.

Mattis’ ascension is hardly guaranteed. According to a congressional aide, the Trump transition team scotched his scheduled appearance Thursday afternoon before the House armed services committee, a hearing designed to convince legislators to approve the waiver. The waiver vote is likely to occur Thursday despite Mattis’ cancellation.

Outside of the civilian-control issue, Mattis is likely to face a variety of questioning from senators seeking to understand how he would run the Pentagon.
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Webster
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Key points to watch for
--Iran. Mattis advocated aggressive responses to Iran while at Central Command that the Obama White House feared would result in escalation. With Trump having threatened to shoot Iranian naval vessels out of the water, Mattis’s approach to Iran is a critical test of the theory that he would restrain the incoming president.
--Syria. Mattis in the past advocated US military pressure on the Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad as a means to check Iran, one of Assad’s patrons, while Trump has signaled an inclination to leave Syria to Assad.
--Torture. Mattis told Trump to back away from enthusiasm for torture, saying he could better elicit information with cigarettes and beer than with waterboarding.
--F-35. Trump has criticized the Pentagon’s top acquisition priority, a hugely expensive and advanced, stealthy, multipurpose combat jet that three US military services and key US allies, including the UK, are purchasing. A Democratic senator on the armed services committee, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, said after meeting Mattis that the defense nominee was committed to the program.
--China. Trump has angered Beijing by speaking with the Taiwanese president and threatening high tariffs on Chinese goods. Mattis has had relatively little experience with China, and in 2015 Senate testimony called for a “parallel” policy of positive relations and “counterbalanc[ing]” Beijing’s naval buildup in the South China Sea.
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Webster
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The Guardian: Mattis - "Russia Is Trying To Smash NATO"

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Vladimir Putin is attempting to destroy the US’s alliance with Europe, James Mattis, Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Pentagon, said during his confirmation hearing on Thursday. “I think right now the most important thing is that we recognize the reality of what we [are dealing] with, with Mr Putin,” he told the Senate armed services committee. “We recognize that he is trying to break the North Atlantic alliance.”

Mattis and Mike Pompeo, Trump’s nominee to head the CIA, both expressed concern over Russia’s growing assertiveness around the world in confirmation hearings which took place during a tumultuous week for the transition team.

Just 10 days before the inauguration, Washington has been rocked by allegations that Russia had aggressively sought to sway the election in Trump’s favor and had also gathered compromising material on the president-elect.

Trump has cast doubt on US intelligence assessments that Russia was responsible for political hacking before the vote. But addressing the intelligence committee, Pompeo stated unequivocally that he accepted the report released last Friday in which US spies concluded that Putin had meddled in the election.

The report “has an analytical product that is sound”, Pompeo testified at his confirmation hearing. “This was an aggressive action taken by the senior leadership in Russia.”

Pompeo also committed to “follow the facts wherever they lead” in terms of any CIA examination of Trump’s ties to the Russians. Pompeo, a Kansas Republican congressman and former army officer, told the Senate intelligence committee that Russia had “reasserted itself aggressively” around the world and said he was and would be “clear-eyed” about Moscow.

In his separate Senate hearing, Mattis, the recently retired Marine Corps general whom Trump has nominated as secretary of defense, said that Russia had “chosen to be a strategic competitor, an adversary in key areas”.

Mattis said he was “all for engagement” with the Russians, but he warned of an “increasing number of areas in which we will have to confront Russia”.
-Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/12/james-mattis-mike-pompeo-confirmation-hearings-russia
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Webster
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....at least he's got part of his confirmation out of the way now...

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(Politico) The Senate on Thursday swiftly passed legislation by a wide margin that would allow retired Gen. James Mattis to become Defense secretary, while the House took the first step in a somewhat rancorous committee vote that broke along party lines. The Senate voted 81 to 17 to pass the waiver less than three hours after the special legislation was forwarded by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The waiver appears on track to clear both chambers before week’s end — so it’s ready for President-elect Donald Trump’s signature soon after he’s sworn into office next Friday.

But the Senate’s action contrasted sharply with Thursday's session in the House Armed Services Committee, where the waiver carried by a vote of 34 to 28. Democrats largely abandoned the legislation after a planned hearing with Mattis was nixed by Trump's transition team and top Democrat Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state urged lawmakers to vote down the measure.

The law stipulates that retired military officers cannot serve as the civilian head of the military until they are out of uniform at least seven years. Mattis retired in 2013. An exception can only be granted by the full Congress.

"I think that is a large mistake and it basically takes this committee completely out of the process," Smith said of Mattis failing to testify before the House as well as the Senate.

During much of Thursday’s House meeting, Democrats decried fast-tracking the waiver without hearing from Mattis, arguing the panel was abdicating its responsibility.

"We're making excuses for not doing our job today," said Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.).

"This is less about Gen. Mattis," added Rep. Jackie Speier (R-Calif.). "It is more about non-elected Trump transition staff and about a fear I have that the President-elect views the executive branch not as a separate and coequal branch, but as a superior branch."

House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) argued that testimony from Mattis would "only increase" lawmakers’ confidence in him, calling his failure to appear a "mistake."

"There are major principles of government involved with this exception, which has been requested for the first time in 67 years," he said. "Unfortunately shortsightedness prevailed."

House Republican leaders are looking to hold a full vote on the waiver Friday.

Mattis sailed through his testimony in the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier in the day, and the committee voted to advance the waiver immediately after the three-hour hearing.

“In the dangerous times we live, Gen. Mattis is the leader our nation needs as secretary of Defense,” Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said.

Three Democrats on the Senate panel — Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — voted against the waiver 24 to 3.

Many Democratic senators on the committee said they had significant concerns about eroding the principle of civilian control of the military, but most have concluded that Mattis understands the implications.

“I am extremely concerned by the precedent that your assuming this office would set,” said Blumenthal. While he voted against the waiver, he also told Mattis: “Let me say very bluntly, if there were ever a case for a waiver of that principle, it is you and this moment in our history.”

Mattis will separately require Senate confirmation once he is officially nominated by Trump, who will also have to sign the waiver.
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(Reddit r/The Donald: Frankly, Senator...)
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Webster
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...and Mattis takes another step towards an expected Senate confirmation...

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(MSN News) The House on Friday passed a waiver that will let retired Gen. James Mattis serve as Defense secretary, clearing the path for his confirmation despite a swift rise in Democratic opposition this week.

The House voted 268-151 on the waiver. Thirty-six Democrats voted in favor of the waiver, while one Republican, Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), voted against it.

The Senate on Thursday voted 81-17 to pass the waiver.

The White House said President Obama will sign the bill if Congress passes it before he leaves office. "I think you can anticipate if it makes it to the president's desk, he will sign it," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a briefing Friday.

Mattis needs a waiver because of a law that says Defense secretaries must be out of uniform for at least seven years, a measure intended to preserve civilian control of the military. Mattis retired in 2013.

Prior to this week, little opposition existed in either party to the waiver. But President-elect Donald Trump's transition team did not allow Mattis to testify before the House Armed Services Committee after Mattis himself had told the leaders of the committee he would.
-Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/house-passes-mattis-waiver-setting-up-quick-confirmation/ar-AAlQsU9
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Webster
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--Senate Armed Services committee approves Trump's pick for defense secretary, Gen. James Mattis. Huge Congratulations! (Tennessee Republican Party - 18 Jan. 2017)
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