Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday that Donald Trump’s nomination of retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis to the Pentagon’s top post was a “terrific” decision, joining the choir of bipartisan voices who back the president-elect’s latest Cabinet pick. – Washington Free Beacon
Despite his brawler reputation, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis actually tried hard on the battlefield to avoid fights, Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said Saturday. – Military.com
Editorial: [T]here is a tradition of former generals, such as Brent Scowcroft or Colin Powell, serving presidents with honor, and the Senate set a precedent for waiving the defense rule when it approved George C. Marshall for the secretary’s job in 1950. The extreme circumstances of the Trump presidency-to-be — including a commander in chief who is both ignorant of military and international affairs and prone to impulsiveness — strengthen the case for a Mattis exception. – Washington Post
Editorial: Gen. Mattis has seen the cost of wars enough to want to deter them, but he also knows that if you fight them you need to do so with the force and will to win. As he said in a letter to a colleague: “‘Winging it’ and filling body bags as we sort out what works reminds us of the moral dictates and the cost of competence in our profession.” Mr. Trump has made a reassuring choice. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
FPI’s Mark Moyar writes: High representation of former U.S. military officers in the Trump administration will have salutary effects after eight years during which the president gave the military short shrift….The presence of retired generals will help prevent further such wrongdoings and enable the administration to undo the damage that can still be undone. – National Review Online
Kori Schake writes: Civil-military relations in America remain an unequal relationship, though: political leaders have a responsibility to seek unvarnished military counsel, but they are under no obligation to take that advice. We elect national leaders to aggregate our societal preferences, including whether to go to war, and how much of blood, treasure, and effort to expend on these wars. Mattis not only has a deep understanding of the norms of American civil-military relations, he has consistently upheld them. – Foreign Policy