Trump administration to launch a new office that will oversee the nation’s military-to-military ties
President Donald Trump’s administration is set to launch an office that would oversee the United States’ military-security relationship with allies and partners in Europe and beyond.
The White House announced Wednesday that Defense Secretary James Mattis will serve as the new senior military official in charge of U.S. military-military relations with allies, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands.
Mattis has been in office for less than two months, but has already overseen the U.K.’s Brexit from the European Union, the fall of NATO ally Canada, and the appointment of a special envoy to negotiate a trade deal between the United State and China.
Mattes has long pushed for a more strategic U.N. role, and was a leading proponent of the United Nations’ Security Council role, but it was Mattis’ appointment to lead the new office — the Pentagon’s first-ever deputy secretary — that drew the ire of Trump critics.
Mattises has previously expressed his opposition to the United Nation’s authority to create a U.n. security council, which he called an “international police force.”