(12 Jan 2017) Retired General James Mattis told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that Russia was raising "grave concerns" on several fronts and that demanding times required a strong national security team.
Mattis said each day the world was "awash in change" as the US remained at war in Afghanistan "and our troops are fighting against ISIS and other terrorist groups in the Middle East and elsewhere."
He said that "islands of stability in western and Asian democracies were "under attack by non-state actors and nations that mistakenly see their security in the insecurity of others" and that as a response "our armed forces in this world must remain the best led, the best equipped and the most lethal in the world."
Mattis, 66, retired in 2013 after serving as commander of U.S. Central Command in charge of all U.S. forces in the Middle East.
He is known for strong views on Iran.
Mattis views Tehran as a menace in the Middle East, and would work for a president, Donald Trump, who has pledged to toughen U.S. policy toward Iran.
That could have broad implications as the incoming administration weighs modifying the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and reconfiguring American posture in the Middle East after complaints from U.S. allies that President Barack Obama yielded too much ground to Tehran.
Senator Jack Reed pointed out President-elect Donald Trump's "troubling" comments on defence, adding that many supported Mattis' confirmation over the expectation that he would provide balance to a Trump presidency and be "to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, the saucer that cools the coffee."
Before Mattis can join the Cabinet, Congress must approve a one-time exception to a law requiring a military officer to be out of uniform for at least seven years before leading the Pentagon. Even some of Trump's strongest critics say Mattis merits the exception.
The last career military officer to serve as defence secretary was George Marshall in 1950-51.
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