Donald Trump’s Pentagon pick Mattis talks up alliances

Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defence pick, retired General James Mattis, also talked up importance of support from Australia, other allies

Retired Marine Corps General James Mattis expressed a hawkish view of Russia and its intentions in his confirmation hearing for secretary of Defence, diverging from President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to co-operate with the Kremlin and praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Gen. Mattis, speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the U.S. had tried to engage with Moscow for years, since the end of World War II, and came away with only a short list of successes. He said the U.S. must recognise that Mr. Putin “is trying to break the North Atlantic alliance” and classified Russia among the principal threats to the U.S.

“I’m all for engagement, but we also have to recognise reality and what Russia is up to,” Gen. Mattis said. “There are a decreasing number of areas where we can engage cooperatively and an increasing number of areas in which we will have to confront Russia.”

His statements on Russia came in the midst of a wideranging Senate confirmation hearing in which he said his priorities as secretary of Defence would be to improve the U.S. military’s preparedness for combat, strengthen U.S. alliances and instil budget discipline at the Pentagon.

The hearing ended after about three hours, making it far shorter than similar confirmation hearings for the previous two secretaries of defence.

The comparatively quick hearing skipped over a number of issues that defence experts expected to come up in questioning. For example, the senators didn’t ask Gen. Mattis about his position on the board of embattled medical start-up Theranos Inc. He decided to step down from the post last month.

In a clear sign of Gen. Mattis’s support, the Senate on Thursday approved a one-time exception to a law that stipulates a person must be out of uniform for seven years before he or she is eligible to become secretary of defence. Gen. Mattis needs the waiver, which must still be approved by the House and the president, to become secretary.

The retired Marine Corps general also expressed strong backing for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which became a target for Mr. Trump’s criticism during the 2016 presidential campaign.

“NATO, from my perspective, having served once as a NATO supreme allied commander, is the most successful military alliance probably in modern world history, maybe ever,” he said.

He vowed to continue the European Reassurance Initiative, started by President Barack Obama in the wake of Russia’s move to annex Crimea and which rotates U.S. troops through Europe and takes other measures to bolster the defences of American allies against a potential threat from Russia. Gen. Mattis said he supported a permanent U.S. presence in the Baltics, the three NATO countries on Russia’s northwest flank.

Gen. Mattis said Mr. Trump had shown himself open to his views on NATO, vowing to work with the incoming national security team to “carry these views forward.”

“My view is that nations with allies thrive, and nations without allies don’t,” Gen. Mattis said.

Asked about the Obama administration’s decision to open all combat positions to women and allow gays to serve openly in the military, Gen. Mattis said he wouldn’t begin his new job with any plans to roll back those measures.

“I’m not coming in looking for problems,” Gen. Mattis said.

The retired Marine Corps general, who from 2010 to 2013 served as commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, also veered from Mr. Trump’s longstanding vow to rip up the nuclear agreement with Iran.

“I think it is an imperfect arms control agreement,” Gen. Mattis said. “It’s not a friendship treaty. But when America gives her word, we have to live up to it and work with our allies.”

Previously, Gen. Mattis has said that the U.S. should continue to uphold the agreement but treat Iran as “the single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the Middle East.”

Gen. Mattis also launched a defence of the F-35 jet fighter, which has become a lightning rod for criticism of military spending, including from Mr. Trump, after delays and overspending.

The retired Marine Corps general said the F-35 remains critical for the U.S. to maintain air superiority in the future because of its stealth characteristics and electronics capability, and he said it was even more important for US allies.

“The president-elect has talked about the costs of it but he has in no way shown a lack of support for the program,” Gen. Mattis said. “He just wants the best bang for the buck.”

At the outset of the hearing, Gen. Mattis said he recognised civilian control of the military as a “fundamental tenet of the American military tradition,” hours before a planned Senate vote on whether to grant him an exemption from civilian-control laws so he can become secretary of defence.

Gen. Mattis retired from the U.S. military more than three years ago, but U.S. laws stipulate that a person must be out of uniform for seven years before he or she is eligible to become secretary of defence.

“In changing roles here, I have to make certain that I am carrying out that responsibility principally to advise the elected commander in chief on the use of force in a way that takes into account all of America’s different strengths,” Gen. Mattis said.

A bill proposed by Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R., Ariz.) offers a one-time exception to the rule to the first secretary appointed after its enactment. The Senate passed the legislation in an 81-to-17 vote after the confirmation hearing.

The House of Representatives also must vote on the measure, which could make it to the House floor as early as Friday. If the bill passes in both chambers, the president must sign it into law for it to take effect. Democrats in the House expressed dismay Thursday that Gen. Mattis didn’t appear in the House to answer questions before the matter was put to a vote.

The exemption doesn’t abrogate the seven-year stipulation on the books. “I strongly support retaining the law,” Mr. McCain said Thursday. “I also believe our nation needs Gen. Mattis’s service now more than ever.”

Gen. Mattis would be the first recently retired general to lead the Pentagon since Gen. George C. Marshall led it in the early 1950s. Marshall was also granted a special exception to civilian-oversight rules.

Wall Street Journal