Defense secretary cancels 2 talks here

As President Trump contemplates how to respond to a chemical attack in Syria, Secretary of Defense James Mattis has canceled two appearances in the Bay Area over the next week.

On Monday, Mattis canceled his planned appearance Saturday in San Francisco at the Commonwealth Club “due to changes in the secretary’s travel plans,” as the club stated in an online advertisement of his appearance. Mattis was supposed to appear Saturday with Commonwealth Club president and CEO Gloria Duffy and former Secretary of State George Shultz.

“We don’t know anything more than that,” John Zipperer, the Commonwealth Club’s vice president of media and editorial, said Monday. Zipperer said he hopes to reschedule the appearance.

Mattis was also scheduled to speak at Stanford University on April 16 with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“The event with Secretary Mattis has been postponed. We are working with the Pentagon to reschedule,” Stanford spokeswoman Katy Gabel said Monday in an email.

Following his retirement from the U.S. Marine Corps in 2013, Mattis served as a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford.

Trump promised a “big price to pay” for the chemical attack late Saturday on the town of Douma. On Monday, the president said, “We’ll be making some major decisions over the next 24 to 48 hours.”

“We can’t let atrocities happen,” Trump said Monday. “Nothing is off the table.”