Retired Marine general James Mattis has been sworn in as US defence secretary, praising intelligence agencies and calling for stronger ties with allies in a break from positions taken by President Donald Trump.
Mattis was confirmed by a 98-1 vote on Friday in the first action taken by US senators after Trump took the oath of office, and was sworn in by Vice-President Mike Pence.
“Together with the intelligence community we are the sentinels and guardians of our nation,” Mattis said in a statement to the Department of Defence – tipping his cap to the agencies that Trump has sharply criticised as they investigate claims of Russian interference in the US election. “Every action we take will be designed to ensure our military is ready to fight today and in the future.”
“Recognising that no nation is secure without friends, we will work with the State Department to strengthen our alliances,” he said, a contrast to Trump’s recent branding of the Nato military alliance as “obsolete”.
Lawmakers passed a special waiver allowing Mattis, who retired in 2013, to serve before a customary seven-year limit on former military personnel assuming the Pentagon’s top post.
Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand was the only senator to vote against Mattis.
She was also the only member of the Armed Services Committee to vote against him when the panel approved him by 26-1 earlier this week.
Gillibrand has said she admires Mattis. But she objected to waiving a law on civilian control of the US military to allow him to lead the Pentagon.
John Kelly, another retired Marine general, was also confirmed and sworn in to head the Department of Homeland Security.
He was confirmed 88-11.
The Senate also voted 89-8 to clear the way for a vote tomorrow on another member of Trump’s national security team, Republican US Representative Mike Pompeo, his nominee to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Trump’s fellow Republicans, who hold a 52-seat majority in the 100-member Senate, have been sparring with Democrats over confirmations of nominees for cabinet posts and other senior positions.
Republicans had hoped to confirm at least seven on Friday, but Democrats objected, complaining that Republicans were trying to force votes too quickly on nominees who were too slow to provide financial and ethics information.
Republicans accused Democrats of playing politics and risking public safety by delaying national security team nominations that they knew would eventually go through.
The CIA post is one of the most highly charged in Washington, amid controversy surrounding Russian attempts to influence the 2016 US presidential election in Trump’s favour.
The last CIA director, John Brennan, who had criticised Trump, resigned on Friday.
Trump belittled the agency as he questioned its conclusion that Russia was involved in cyber hacking that interfered with the vote, in which Trump, a New York businessman and reality television star, defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state.
“We face threats foreign and domestic. It’s critical for the president to have a full national security team today, day one,” said Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“These uniquely qualified leaders will immediately begin the important work of rebuilding our military, defending our nation and securing our borders,” Trump said in a statement. “I am proud to have these two American heroes join my administration.”
Mattis has won accolades from both parties and many in the armed forces, and his path to Trump’s cabinet was relatively uncontroversial compared to that of other nominees.
A cornerstone of US democracy is that civilians, not people in uniform, control the military, and the commander-in-chief is the president.
Some in Congress initially raised eyebrows because Mattis, a 66-year-old Washington state native, had only retired from active duty in 2013.
The waiver allowing him to take the top Pentagon post was only granted once before, for the famous World War II general George Marshall who served under President Harry Truman from 1950-1951.
Mattis is known as a colourful commander and famed for his pugnacious aphorisms.
The media dubbed him “Mad Dog” for his battle-hardened swagger and the sort of blunt language the Marines are famous for.
He has been quoted as saying: “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.”
But Mattis also has a well-known cerebral side: he issued reading lists to Marines under his command, and instructed them that the most important territory on a battlefield is the space “between your ears”.
While Mattis sailed through his confirmation, Democratic lawmakers are putting up stiff resistance to other Trump cabinet picks, including nominees to head the departments of education and health and human services.
Mattis replaces Ashton Carter, a long-time Pentagon bureaucratic warrior who served as former president Barack Obama’s fourth defence secretary.