The Cable

The Cable goes inside the foreign policy machine, from Foggy Bottom to Turtle Bay, the White House to Embassy Row.

As Expected, ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis is Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pick

Trump's pick for secretary of defense will require a congressional exemption to serve.

By , a global affairs journalist and the author of The Influence of Soros and Bad Jews.
mattis
mattis

President-elect Donald Trump announced during a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio Thursday night that he plans to nominate retired Marine Corps general James Mattis as his defense secretary.

President-elect Donald Trump announced during a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio Thursday night that he plans to nominate retired Marine Corps general James Mattis as his defense secretary.

“We are going to appoint ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis as our secretary of defense,” Trump told the crowd, using one of Mattis’ nicknames. “But we’re not announcing it until Monday so don’t tell anybody.” Later, he added, “they say he’s the closest thing to Gen. George Patton that we have and it’s about time.”

During the presidential campaign, Trump often invoked Patton as the kind of general he felt the nation needed to fight the Islamic State.

On some matters, such as Iran, Mattis flies with the hawks. Still, salty language aside, he’s widely seen as having an informed, nuanced view of the world, and some hope that he can temper Trump, who was apparently surprised that Mattis opposes the use of waterboarding during interrogations.

But Mattis still faces several hurdles in Congress before he is given rein at the Pentagon. Because he retired from active military service just three years ago, as Foreign Policy noted in a report this week, he requires a congressional exemption to serve as secretary of defense. It would be the first such exemption issued by Congress since President Harry Truman’s administration.

This article has been updated. Paul McLeary contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Emily Tamkin is a global affairs journalist and the author of The Influence of Soros and Bad Jews. Twitter: @emilyctamkin

More from Foreign Policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?

The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.
Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World

It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.
Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.