Investing.com - Defense Secretary nominee James Mattis, a retired Marine Corps four star general, appeared before the Armed Services Committee this morning for his vetting hearing, and testified that his leading priorities would be to strengthen American military alliances around the globe and improve antiquated business processes at the Pentagon for procurement, if he is confirmed by the Senate.
"We see each day a world awash in change," said Gen. Mattis. "We see islands of democracy under attack. Our armed forces must remain the best led, best equipped and most lethal in the world."
President-elect Trump wants to try to renegotiate America's stance toward Russia, for instance.
But Mattis thinks Russia is on the offensive, and seeking to undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Under questioning, Mattis said that he was mindful that the U.S. had tried a number of times since the Yalta conference during World War II to reset relations with Russia, for example, but has had mixed results.
Mattis said he was enjoying retirement, west of the Rocky Mountains, and not involved in the presidential election, when the surprise call came from President-elect Trump requesting he serve as the new secretary of defense.
Former head of NATO and of the Central Command (Centcom), Mattis led much of the military strategy creation in the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is said to be a scholar of military matters, with a library of more than 6,000 volumes, ranging from Sun Tzu to General U.S. Grant, and can quote from Thucydides from memory "without consulting Wikipedia," said former Sen. William Cohen (R-Maine), a former defense secretary himself.
The general is coming to office at a time of a shifting global balance of power, with Russia, Islamic terrorists, and the Chinese being more powerful players than they were just eight years ago, a leading U.S. senator said.
"Our world order is not self-sustaining. Hard power matters. There is a perception around the world that America is weak and distracted. The threat posed by violent Islamic extremism continues to metastasize," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "ISIL is a symptom of this disorder."
Mattis is expected to be easily confirmed as defense secretary, and the Senate has prepared a legislative waiver that will allow him to take office immediately, even though he has not been retired from the military for seven years before assuming this senior civilian post at the Pentagon, as is required by statute.
"Here's a guy who is military through-and-through, who is a Marine through-and-through," said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) in a TV interview on the nomination of Gen. Mattis. "He's going to go flying through the nomination process."
In related Trump administration confirmation news, Dr. Ben Carson was undertaking his confirmation hearing to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM), was completing his second day of testimony for the position of Secretary of State.