James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is a retired United States Marine Corps general who served as

the 26th US secretary of defense from January 2017 through January 2019. During his 44 years in the Marine
Corps, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.
Mattis was commissioned in the Marine Corps through the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps after
graduating from Central Washington University. A career Marine, he gained a reputation among his peers for
"intellectualism", and eventually advanced to the rank of general. From 2007 to 2010 he commanded the United
States Joint Forces Command and concurrently served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation.
He was commander of United States Central Command from 2010 to 2013 with Admiral Bob Harward serving as
his deputy commander. After retiring from the military, he served in several private sector roles, including as a
board member of Theranos.[6]
Mattis was nominated as secretary of defense by president-elect Donald Trump, and confirmed by the Senate on
January 20, 2017. As secretary of defense, Mattis affirmed the United States' commitment to defending longtime
ally South Korea in the wake of the 2017 North Korea crisis.[7][8] An opponent of proposed collaboration
with China and Russia,[9] Mattis stressed what he saw as their "threat to the American-led world order".[10][11] Mattis
occasionally voiced his disagreement with certain Trump administration policies such as the withdrawal from
the Iran nuclear deal,[12] withdrawals of troops from Syria and Afghanistan,[13] and budget cuts hampering the ability
to monitor the impacts of climate change.[14][15] On December 20, 2018, after failing to convince Trump to
reconsider his decision to withdraw all American troops from Syria, Mattis announced his resignation effective
February 28, 2019. Trump later accelerated the departure date to January 1, claiming without evidence that he
had essentially fired Mattis.[16] On June 2, 2020, during the protests following George Floyd's killing, Mattis
publicly criticized Trump, calling him "the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American
people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us."[17]