Pentagon pick ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis is no Dr. Strangelove
President-elect Donald Trump relishes the nickname for his pick to be secretary of Defense, telling a Cincinnati crowd last week that he was tapping “Mad Dog Mattis” — a general in the mold of legendary World War II commander George Patton — to run the sprawling military bureaucracy.
Colorful nickname aside, there is reason to believe that James Mattis, a retired four-star Marine Corps general aggressive in combat and blunt in expression, would represent a desperately needed voice of reason in the Trump administration’s national security team.
A voracious reader and lifelong bachelor whose other nickname is the “Warrior Monk,” Mattis, 66, is known as a thoughtful moral leader and someone who is unafraid to speak his mind.
That candor could prove a strong counterweight to some of Trump’s ill-informed views. A brief conversation between Mattis and the president-elect already prompted Trump to back away from his untenable protorture position. Mattis, whose nomination was to be officially announced Tuesday evening, strongly believes in U.S. engagement with the world and maintaining alliances such as NATO. Though initially opposed to the Iran nuclear agreement, he has said that since it is in place, it should not be reversed.
If the Senate decides that Mattis is the right person for the job — and there is much to admire about his qualifications — lawmakers shouldn’t hesitate to waive a federal law requiring a seven-year gap between military service and being named Defense secretary. That law, passed in 1947, was designed to underscore the primacy of civilian leadership over America’s military. The principle is sound, but the waiting period is not sacrosanct.
Mattis is a civilian and has been for three years. The notion that those who served in the military need many years before being declared sufficiently civilian feeds an unfair stigma that bedevils the current of crop of veterans, many of whom struggle to carve out lives in a civilian world where employers see them as war-addled liabilities.
The stereotype also ignores the reality of modern warfare steeped as much in the art of peacemaking as combat. Leaders at almost every level, particularly in the counterinsurgency conflicts that characterize Iraq and Afghanistan, must be skilled at engagement with tribal chiefs and heads of state. When Mattis served as commander of U.S. Central Command, he worked closely with the governments of 20 nations in the Middle East and South Asia.
This doesn’t mean Mattis should get a free ride at his Senate confirmation hearings. The nominee needs to explain comments in a recent book he co-edited critical of “social change” and a “progressive agenda” being imposed on the military. He should also be queried about his initial reluctance to provide adequate armored vehicles for Marines who were being slaughtered by roadside bombs in Iraq.
Mattis has already proved himself on the battlefield and knows the horrors of war. If confirmed, his biggest challenges will be overseeing an agency with 3 million employees and a $600 billion annual budget — and dealing with hot heads in the White House.