January 12, 2017

2017-01-12T16:04:24-05:00

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General James Mattis (Retired) spoke about a number of topics at his confirmation hearing, including U.S.-NATO relations, Russia, U.S. intelligence reliability, the defense budget, and military readiness. On NATO, General Mattis called it the most successful military alliance. He acknowledged President-elect Trump’s skepticism of NATO but added that in conversations with him, Mr. Trump had shown an openness on the topic. The president-elect had also questioned U.S. intelligence. Mr. Mattis said he has a “very, very high degree of confidence” in the nation’s intelligence community. Senators then voted to pass a bill out of committee to give General Mattis a waiver allowing him to serve as defense secretary even though he had only been out of military service since 2013. Under the existing law, there was a seven-year wait period for retired military officers to serve as defense secretary.

General James Mattis (Retired) spoke about a number of topics at his confirmation hearing, including U.S.-NATO relations, Russia, U.S. intelligence reliability,… read more