President-elect Donald Trump’s selection to be defense secretary is taking his turn before the Senate on Thursday, facing the Armed Services Committee in the third day of marathon confirmation hearings for the new administration’s nominees.
Ret. Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis went into his hearing with glowing support from big names, but he faces an extra challenge beyond other nominees. Not only will his task be convincing senators to confirm him — installing Mattis will need Congress to pass a waiver of a law requiring anyone who served to be out of the military for at least seven years before serving as defense secretary.
From the outset, a former Democratic senator and former Clinton secretary of defense implored the committee to both grant the waiver and confirm Mattis.
“Exceptions for this restriction should be based on the experience, the skills and the character of the nominee,” said former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn. “I also believe your examination of Jim Mattis’ character, credentials and record will convince you … he should be granted a waiver.”
“Jim Mattis is a rare combination of thinker and doer, scholar and strategist,” he added.
“He has the nickname of Mad Dog — it’s a misnomer. It should be ‘brave heart,'” added former Defense Secretary William Cohen. “This man, Jim Mattis, brings to the job of secretary of defense a great and brave heart.”
Mattis’ opening remarks also sought to address his view of the role of the military in the world from the outset.
“I will work to make sure our strategy and military calculus are employed to reinforce traditional tools of diplomacy, ensuring our President and our diplomats negotiate from a position of strength,” Mattis said in his opening. “We must also embrace our international alliances and security partnerships. History is clear: nations with strong allies thrive and those without them wither.”
Mattis retired in 2013 after serving as Commander of US Central Command.
Mattis is expected to have the votes to be confirmed, as Republicans have a majority in the Senate.
The biggest concern of Mattis’ detractors is the principle of civilian control of the military — which is why the law requires a cooling off period before active military officials can serve as the top defense official.
Mattis addressed the issue head on in his opening remarks.
“I recognize my potential civilian role differs in essence from my former role in uniform,” he said. “Civilian control of the military is a fundamental tenet of the American military tradition … If the Senate consents and if the full Congress passes an exception to the seven-year requirement, I will provide strong civilian leadership of military plans and decisions and the Department of Defense.”
That issue could be front and center on Thursday. House Democrats were up in arms Wednesday after Mattis abruptly canceled a scheduled hearing before the House Armed Services Committee slated for Thursday that was supposed to come before the waiver vote in the House.
“The Republicans have been spending eight years complaining about the executive branch usurping legislative branch power and here’s their first move from the new administration is to ignore us on something,” Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the panel, told reporters Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the Trump transition said Mattis was focused on the confirmation process and testifying before the Senate on Thursday.
Mattis is expected to face a tough questions on Thursday, given both his record and statements by Trump, though he does not go in with much outright opposition.
In their opening statements, the top committee Republican and Democrat were both generally favorable to Mattis.
“Current law would bar him from serving as secretary of defense for three more years. While I strongly support retaining the law, I also believe that our nation needs General Mattis’s service more than ever,” said Chairman John McCain.
McCain largely laid out his priorities for the military, as did his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Jack Reed.
Reed trained his concerns mainly on President-elect Trump, criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin and praising past statements from Mattis saying the Iran nuclear deal should remain in place unless violated.
“You will help oversee national security policy for a president who lacks foreign policy and defense experience, and who’s temperament is far different from prior presidents,” Reed said. “I think many Americans, and many in this body, on both sides of the aisle, are rightly concerned about how he may respond when he is tested by Russia, Iran, North Korea, and other transnational threats such as cyber.”
Senators have already questioned nominees on the issue of waterboarding and torture, which Trump has spoken in favor of. Mattis is on the record against using waterboarding in the military, a difference Trump noted when he introduced him as his choice for defense secretary.
Mattis was also sure to face questions about relations with Russia, Moscow’s involvement in the conflict in Syria, and the use of military force, especially in the fight against terrorism.
Other likely hot topics include the use of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, which President Barack Obama pledged to close but Republicans want kept open, opening up all combat positions to women and sexual assault in the military.
Mattis also served as supreme allied commander of NATO for transformation — the alliance is an organization Trump has criticized throughout the campaign.
The retired four-star general is a bachelor who spent most of his adult life in the Marines. He served in the first Gulf War and Afghanistan, in addition to his positions atop NATO and US Central Command, which is in charge of the US military in the Middle East.
While his friends don’t call him Mad Dog, he has earned the nickname in part because of some of his frank comments on the violence that combat sometimes requires.
“Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet,” he would tell his Marines in Iraq, according to the writer Thomas Ricks in his book Fiasco. He also drew criticism for saying in 205, “It’s fun to shoot some people.”
If he were confirmed, Mattis has agreed to give up his business interests, including A $242,000- a-year position on the board of General Dynamics, one of the largest defense contractors. Also, in December, Mattis resigned from the board of Theranos, a blood testing company under government scrutiny for questionable practices.
Former Defense Secretary George C. Marshall was the last recipient of a waiver to run the Defense Department, the only such precedent.