Secretary of Defense James Mattis James Norman MattisBiden courts veterans amid fallout from Trump military controversies Trump says he wanted to take out Syria's Assad but Mattis opposed it Gary Cohn: 'I haven't made up my mind' on vote for president in November MORE on Tuesday said that "the jury is out" on the success of having women in combat roles during a speech at the Virginia Military Institute.

Mattis said that the sample size of women in the infantry is currently too small to know for certain how they are performing.

ADVERTISEMENT

"This is a policy I inherited, and so far the cadre is so small we have no data on it. We're hoping to get data soon," he said.

“Clearly the jury is out on it, but what we’re trying to do is give it every opportunity to succeed if it can.”

Former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter opened all roles in the military to women in 2015, but supporters of these changes have expressed concerns that the Trump administration could roll them back.

In a 2014 speech, Mattis openly questioned including women in infantry roles.

“The idea of putting women in there is not setting them up for success,” he said.

“It would only be someone who never crossed the line of departure into close quarters fighting that would ever even promote such an idea.”

During his confirmation hearing, however, Mattis clarified that he had “no plan to oppose women in any aspect.”

In his Tuesday speech, Mattis said that the issue would have to be resolved “as a nation” noting that the military should not do something that “militarily doesn't make sense.”

"This is an area we're going to have to resolve as a nation," Mattis said.

"And the military has got to have officers who look at this with a great deal of objectivity, and at the same time, remember our natural inclination to have this open to all. But we cannot do something that militarily doesn't make sense."