- President Donald Trump's national security team is in the midst of a sweeping reshuffle.
- The personnel changes come amid a series of consequential foreign policy developments.
- The status of Jim Mattis, Trump's influential defense secretary, is becoming less clear.
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Mattis has become a 'secret "peacenik"' in the Trump White House — and he's growing more isolated
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis wields considerable influence in the Trump administration, but the balance of power may be shifting around him.
The whirlwind reshuffling of President Donald Trump's national security team in recent weeks appears to be setting up a more hawkish turn Trump's foreign policy.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, national security adviser H.R. McMaster, and numerous National Security Council officials are out — while Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, and Bolton's chosen aides are on their way in.
But it's also leaving Defense Secretary Jim Mattis increasingly isolated, according to a New Yorker report by international affairs columnist Susan Glasser.
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Mattis' reported pushback against aggressive military action that Trump has called for stands in contrast to the defense chief's reputed hawkishness, particularly on Iran. (In 2010, when then-President Barack Obama asked Mattis what his priorities were as the new head of Central Command, Mattis said he had three: "Iran, Iran, Iran.")
But recent events, including Mattis' willingness to be at odds with the president himself on a range of issues and the influx of advisers more willing to back Trump's instincts, could hint that the defense secretary's time may be nigh.
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