Top contender for defense secretary faces legislative hurdle
Source: CNN
By David Wright, CNN
Updated 4:58 PM ET, Mon November 21, 2016
(CNN) Ret. Marine Corps Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis has emerged as a favorite for the position of Defense Secretary in the new Trump administration. However, a decades-old legal statute barring service members from quickly entering civilian positions prevents him from being eligible for the job -- unless he gets a waiver from Congress.
Section 903(a) of the National Defense Authorization act requires a seven-year wait period between active duty and serving as Secretary of Defense -- a civilian role -- for former service members. Mattis would need a special waiver from Congress, since he retired from the military in 2013.
An aide to the House Armed Services Committee told CNN that they are conducting a review to examine how a waiver might be granted. The aide said no one from the President-elect's transition team had reached out to the committee, but committee staffers have started reviewing what would be required.
Mattis wouldn't be the first defense secretary to require a congressional waiver. President Harry Truman appointed Gen. George Marshall to the position in 1950, nearly five years after he retired from the Army. Congress granted the waiver (at the time, the interval between active duty and defense secretary service was 10 years).
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/21/politics/james-mattis-defense-secretary-waiver/index.html
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