Departing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis closed out a two-year run as Pentagon chief Monday, ushering in a period of intense uncertainty for the military with President Trump set to choose new leadership and issuing murky orders for U.S. troops abroad. Mattis’s successor on an acting basis will be Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, a longtime executive with the defense contractor Boeing. Mattis said in a parting letter that the president deserved a defense secretary whose views are “better aligned” with his own. Trump initially announced Dec. 19 that the U.S. withdrawal from Syria was imminent, as he declared victory over the Islamic State. Under Mattis, the Pentagon expanded its military operations in several locations, including Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia, and secured larger Defense Department budgets than ever.

Source: Washington Post January 01, 2019 00:42 UTC