*I thought he was impeached? Maybe I should turn on a TV
President Trump signed an executive order Friday to launch what he called a “great rebuilding of the Armed Forces” that is expected to include new ships, planes and weapons and the modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
Trump, making his first visit to the Pentagon since his Jan. 20 inauguration, said the order was signed “to ensure the sacrifices of our military are supported by the actions of our government.”
The order calls for new Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to carry out a 30-day “readiness review” that is expected to examine needs for the war against the Islamic State, along with training, equipment maintenance, munitions, modernization and infrastructure. A draft of the order obtained by The Washington Post on Thursday also said it would examine how to carry out operations against unnamed “near-peer competitors,” a term that U.S. officials typically use to mean China and Russia, but that language is not in the final version.
Within 60 days, Mattis also must submit to Trump a plan to improve overall readiness in the military by fiscal 2019. It will focus on everything from maintenance backlogs to the availability of training ranges and manpower shortages, and the time needed to coordinate and carry out military training.
[Placing Russia first among threats, Mattis warns of Kremlin attempts to ‘break’ NATO]
Trump also called for reviews of the U.S. military’s nuclear arsenal and of ballistic missile defense. The draft document suggested that the Pentagon also would suggest programs that might be cut, but that language did not appear in the final order Trump signed.
Trump signed the order at the Pentagon hours after he said at the White House that he will allow Mattis, who retired as a Marine general in 2013, to “override” him on whether the United States tortures terrorism suspects. Trump has said he is convinced torture works, while Mattis believes interrogations should be carried out according to U.S. military guidelines, which specifically ban techniques such as waterboarding.
“He’s an expert. He’s highly respected. I happen to feel that it does work,” Trump said, without mentioning that Congress has banned torture. “I’ve been open about that for a long period of time. But I am going with our leaders.”
Later, at the Pentagon, Trump promised U.S. troops that his administration “will always have your back.” The president, speaking six days after claiming that the media misreported the size of his inauguration crowd in front of a memorial wall at the Central Intelligence Agency, struck a more somber tone and read from prepared remarks. He called the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes “sacred” and added that the “soul of our nation lives between these walls.” The room recognizes the bravery of Medal of Honor recipients.
