Mattis' Resignation Letter Reminds Us of Who We are and Where We Come From by Virginia Heffernan – Los Angeles Times
Resignation letters can be rants. Meltdowns. But mostly they’re boilerplate. One job site advises quitters to be brief, not to burn bridges, and — this above all — “Don’t tell the whole truth in your exit interview.”
For once, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis broke a rule. When the former Marine Corps lieutenant general and head of Central Command tendered his resignation to President Trump on Thursday, he told the whole truth.
In his elegant, elegiac and deceptively simple letter, Mattis outlined his core beliefs about global security.
The letter merits a close look, but not because it’s brilliantly original. Instead, the brief essay takes a steely tone to reiterate with absolute clarity America’s bedrock commitments in the post-World War II international order.
Was that so hard? Reasonable people can differ on tactics and some preach isolationism. But Mattis’ line covers even those who prefer to pull in the drawbridges; it is an entirely credible and complete statement of postwar American resolution.
And that’s why Mattis’ letter is a vitally necessary document. It evokes the common sense, wisdom and competence that the American people have been starved for over the last two years. Our upside-down nation has almost forgotten what a disciplined and principled approach to national security sounds like…