

General Mattis is an authentic Marine who has seen war up-close-and-personal, and whose sayings are almost as legendary as his combat record. Trump is apparently “scrapping” his views on torture after discussing the issue with General Mattis. Indeed, reports indicate that General Mattis has already had what many would consider to be a positive influence on the President-elect.


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And he knows how to give advice effectively to civilians without military experience. Kori Schake, one of the nation’s foremost defense experts. What is more is that General Mattis is himself an expert on civil-military relations, having just co-edited a book (“ Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military”) on the subject with Dr. This is the key to healthy civil-military relations, upon which a Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will insist. But civilians must understand that to implement effective policy and strategy requires the proper military instrument, which means soldiers must present their views frankly and forcefully throughout the strategy-making and implementation process. Of course, the military must have a voice in strategy making, while realizing that politics permeates the conduct of war and that civilians have the final say, not only concerning the goals of the war but also how it is conducted. Professor Owens, who has written a book on civil-military relations, says in his insightful blog post: Still, should we be concerned about a retired general serving as Secretary of Defense which is intended to be a civilian, political-appointee position aimed at enhancing civilian control of the armed forces? Normally, sure – but there are always exceptions that prove the rule when the facts about the particular person are considered as they should be. Those are just a few of the many “titles” he holds. People may want to categorize General Mattis by putting him in a “retired general” box, but he is much more than that. It’s true that if selected as Secretary of Defense, a waiver of the statutory prohibition against military officers serving in that post within seven years of their retirement would be required.

Some hand-wringing about the supposed impact of retired generals serving in civilian positions in government seems to be taking place.
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What are General Mattis’ qualifications? Professor Mac Owens, who was on the civil-military relations panel at the just-completed ABA Annual Review of the Field of National Security Law conference has written an absolutely must-read piece entitled “ Mattis for Defense: Making Civil-Military Relations Great Again” which superbly lays out the case for Mattis. His participation underscored his desire to build future generations of national security law experts by his willingness to engage with the students and to frankly address their questions. It’s hard to think of a better nominee at this moment in history than my friend who was the dinner speaker for our 2013 LENS conference. President-elect Donald Trump is said to be considering appointing retired Marine General Jim Mattis as Secretary of Defense.
