James Mattis

James Mattis
Born	James Norman Mattis 8 9, 1950
Birthplace	Pullman, Washington, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Retired military officer, former government official
Title	26th United States Secretary of Defense
Known for	26th United States Secretary of Defense; Commander of United States Central Command; service in the Gulf War, Afghanistan War, and Iraq War
Education	Central Washington University (B.A.) National War College (M.A.)
Awards	Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Combat Action Ribbon

James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950), also known by his call sign "Chaos" and his widely cited nickname "Mad Dog," is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 26th United States Secretary of Defense from January 2017 to January 2019. Over a career spanning more than four decades in uniform, Mattis held command at virtually every level of the Marine Corps and the broader U.S. military, from an infantry rifle platoon to the leadership of United States Central Command (CENTCOM), where he oversaw military operations across the Middle East, Central Asia, and East Africa. Known for his voracious reading habits and his blunt, often colorful manner of speaking to troops, Mattis became one of the most prominent American military leaders of the early 21st century. After his tenure as Secretary of Defense, during which he resigned over policy disagreements with President Donald Trump, Mattis returned to private life and has continued to comment publicly on matters of national security, civil-military relations, and American democratic governance. He currently resides in Richland, Washington.

Early Life

James Norman Mattis was born on September 8, 1950, in Pullman, Washington, a small college town in the eastern part of the state. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest, spending portions of his youth in central Washington. Mattis has spoken publicly about being raised in a family that valued reading, self-discipline, and public service. He developed from an early age a deep interest in military history and leadership, subjects that would define the course of his life. The Pacific Northwest remained central to Mattis's identity; after decades of service around the world, he returned to Washington State, settling in Richland, in the Tri-Cities area, which he has continued to call home.

Education

Mattis earned a bachelor's degree in history from Central Washington University, where he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program. He later earned a master's degree from the National War College in Washington, D.C. Throughout his career, Mattis became renowned for his emphasis on professional military education and personal study. He reportedly maintained a personal library of thousands of volumes on history, strategy, and leadership, and he frequently urged junior officers and enlisted Marines to read broadly. His call sign, "Chaos," was in fact an acronym for "Colonel Has An Outstanding Suggestion," a tongue-in-cheek reference bestowed by his staff, though it also reflected the intensity he brought to warfighting.

Career

Military Service

Mattis was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in 1972. Over the next four decades, he served in a succession of command and staff assignments of increasing responsibility. His early career followed the traditional path of a Marine infantry officer, with assignments leading rifle platoons, companies, and battalions.

Mattis first saw combat during the Gulf War in 1991, where he commanded an assault battalion during Operation Desert Storm. His performance during the campaign established his reputation as a capable and aggressive field commander. In the years following the Gulf War, Mattis continued to ascend through the ranks, holding command at the regimental and division levels.

Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Mattis played a prominent role in the early stages of the War in Afghanistan. He led Task Force 58, a Marine expeditionary brigade that conducted one of the longest amphibious assaults in Marine Corps history, establishing a forward operating base deep inside southern Afghanistan in November 2001.

Mattis subsequently commanded the 1st Marine Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, leading approximately 20,000 Marines in the march from Kuwait to Baghdad. He later returned to Iraq to command Marines during the First Battle of Fallujah in 2004, a pivotal and controversial engagement in the Iraq War. His leadership during these campaigns cemented his reputation within the military, and his direct, unvarnished manner of speaking to troops produced a body of widely quoted remarks that became known colloquially as "Mattisisms."

Among the most frequently cited is his admonition to Marines preparing for combat: "There are hunters and there are victims. By your discipline, cunning, obedience, and alertness, you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim." Such statements, along with his reputation for personal courage and tactical aggressiveness, contributed to the nickname "Mad Dog," although Mattis himself reportedly preferred the call sign "Chaos."

Mattis rose to the rank of general (four stars) and was appointed Commander of United States Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in 2007. In 2010, he was appointed Commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM), one of the most consequential positions in the U.S. military, with responsibility for operations across the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Horn of Africa. In this role, Mattis oversaw ongoing military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as engagement with partners and adversaries throughout the region.

Mattis retired from the Marine Corps in 2013 after more than 41 years of active duty service. His departure from CENTCOM was reportedly earlier than he had wished, with some accounts indicating that the Obama administration had grown uneasy with Mattis's outspoken views on Iran and other regional security issues.

Secretary of Defense (2017–2019)

Following the election of Donald Trump as president in November 2016, Mattis was nominated to serve as the 26th United States Secretary of Defense. Because federal law at the time required a minimum of seven years of separation from active military service before a retired officer could serve as Secretary of Defense, and Mattis had been retired for fewer than four years, Congress was required to grant a special waiver. Both chambers of Congress approved the waiver, and Mattis was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 20, 2017, in a vote of 98–1, making him one of the most broadly supported cabinet nominees in the new administration.

As Secretary of Defense, Mattis prioritized rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances, and restoring what he described as a focus on great power competition, particularly with China and Russia. He played a central role in the development and release of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, which formally reoriented U.S. defense policy toward competition with major state adversaries after more than a decade and a half focused primarily on counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations in the Middle East.

Mattis was a strong advocate for the value of international alliances and partnerships. He repeatedly emphasized the importance of NATO and bilateral security agreements in the Asia-Pacific region. His tenure coincided with significant international security developments, including heightened tensions with North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, ongoing conflict in Syria, and evolving dynamics with Iran.

During his time as Secretary of Defense, Mattis also addressed border security operations, issuing a joint statement with Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen regarding the deployment of National Guard troops to support border security missions along the U.S. southwest border.

Resignation

On December 20, 2018, Mattis submitted his letter of resignation to President Trump. The immediate catalyst was Trump's abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria and to begin drawing down troops in Afghanistan, decisions that were made without consulting key allies or, by some accounts, without adequate interagency deliberation. In his resignation letter, Mattis stated that Trump deserved a Secretary of Defense "whose views are better aligned with yours," and he emphasized the importance of treating allies with respect and maintaining a clear-eyed view of adversaries such as China and Russia. He initially set his departure date for February 28, 2019, to allow for an orderly transition, but Trump subsequently moved up the date to January 1, 2019.

The resignation was widely covered in domestic and international media and was seen as a significant moment in civil-military relations in the United States. Mattis's departure was interpreted by many observers as a public break with the Trump administration over fundamental questions of alliance management, strategy, and the role of the United States in the international order.

Post-Government Career

After leaving the Department of Defense, Mattis returned to the Pacific Northwest and largely withdrew from public life for a period. He published a memoir, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead, co-authored with Bing West, in 2019, which chronicled his military career and the leadership principles he developed over decades of service.

Mattis reentered public discourse in June 2020, when he released a statement sharply criticizing President Trump's response to nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd. In that statement, Mattis wrote about the importance of national unity and condemned the use of military forces against American citizens exercising their constitutional rights. The statement, which was published in The Atlantic, marked the first time Mattis had publicly and directly criticized the president under whom he had served. The statement, titled "In Unity There Is Strength," drew widespread attention and became one of the most discussed interventions by a former senior military official in contemporary American politics.

Mattis has continued to weigh in on national security matters. In 2025, he co-authored an article in Foreign Affairs making the case for the United States to recommit to and revitalize the AUKUS security partnership among the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The article, titled "Don't Abandon AUKUS: The Case for Recommitting to—and Revitalizing—the Alliance," was published amid reports that the U.S. Department of Defense was conducting a review of the AUKUS arrangement.

In 2025 and 2026, reports circulated attributing statements critical of the Trump administration's domestic use of military force to Mattis. The Tri-City Herald investigated one such viral claim in June 2025, examining whether Mattis had issued a new statement condemning the Trump administration's military response to protests in Los Angeles.

Public Speaking and Continued Engagement

Mattis has remained active as a public speaker and participant in discussions on American governance, leadership, and national security. In April 2026, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello announced that it would host Mattis and financier and philanthropist David Rubenstein for a Founders Day Weekend conversation on "Character, Service and the American Experiment." The event, scheduled for April 11, 2026, was part of Monticello's programming on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson and themes of civic engagement and democratic governance.

Personal Life

Mattis has never married and has no children. He has been described as a lifelong bachelor who devoted the entirety of his adult life to the Marine Corps and to the study of warfare and leadership. He has spoken publicly about the sacrifices that a military career demands and the decision he made early on to devote himself fully to the profession of arms. After his retirement from government service, Mattis returned to Richland, Washington, where he continues to reside. He has served on the board of directors of General Dynamics, a major defense contractor, though he stepped down from that position when he was nominated as Secretary of Defense.

Mattis is widely known for his personal austerity and his emphasis on reading. His personal library and his frequent book recommendations to Marines and other service members became a notable aspect of his public persona. He has cited works by Marcus Aurelius, Sun Tzu, and numerous military historians as formative influences on his thinking.

Recognition

Over the course of his military career, Mattis received numerous awards and decorations, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon, among many others. He was recognized for valor and meritorious service across multiple combat deployments.

Mattis's appointment as Secretary of Defense in 2017, with a Senate confirmation vote of 98–1, reflected the broad bipartisan respect he had earned over his military career. His resignation in December 2018 and his subsequent public statements on civil-military relations and democratic governance drew extensive media coverage and commentary. The "In Unity There Is Strength" statement he issued in June 2020 was described as one of the most significant public interventions by a former Secretary of Defense in modern American history.

His memoir, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead (2019), co-authored with Bing West, became a bestseller and was widely reviewed in major publications. The book provided Mattis's account of the leadership lessons he drew from decades of military service and from his time as Secretary of Defense.

His continued public engagement, including his 2025 article in Foreign Affairs on the AUKUS partnership and his scheduled appearance at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in 2026, reflects his ongoing role in public discussions about American security policy and the responsibilities of democratic leadership.

Legacy

Mattis's legacy rests on his long and consequential military career, his tenure as Secretary of Defense, and his public statements on the principles of democratic governance and civil-military relations. As a Marine officer, he was known for combining intellectual rigor with tactical aggressiveness, and his emphasis on the importance of reading and education within the military influenced a generation of officers. His leadership in Afghanistan and Iraq during the early years of the War on Terror placed him at the center of the defining military conflicts of his era.

As Secretary of Defense, Mattis is credited with shifting U.S. defense strategy toward great power competition through the 2018 National Defense Strategy, a document that has continued to shape Pentagon planning. His advocacy for alliances and partnerships, particularly NATO and security frameworks in the Indo-Pacific, represented a consistent theme throughout his career and his post-government writing, as exemplified by his 2025 Foreign Affairs article on AUKUS.

His resignation from the Trump administration and his subsequent public criticism of the president's handling of civil unrest represented a notable departure from the tradition of former senior military officers refraining from overt political commentary. These actions provoked both praise and criticism, and they have been the subject of extensive analysis in discussions about the proper role of retired military leaders in American public life.

Mattis's "Mattisisms" — his pithy, often blunt statements to troops and colleagues — have entered the broader cultural lexicon of the American military and are frequently quoted in military education settings and popular media. His persona as the "warrior monk," a general who combined ferocity in combat with deep reading and intellectual curiosity, has made him one of the most recognizable American military figures of the post-9/11 era.