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In 2019, Mattis's book Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead was published. It is an autobiography as well as an argument in favor of an internationalist foreign policy. On August 7, 2019, Mattis was re-elected to the board of General Dynamics.

Post-tenure at the October 17, 2019 Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, keynote speaker Mattis responded to comments Trump made about him, saying, "I’m not just an overrated general, I am the greatest, the world’s most overrated...I’m honored to be considered that by Donald Trump, because he also called Meryl Streep an overrated actress. So I guess I’m the Meryl Streep of generals, and frankly, that sounds pretty good to me. And you do have to admit that between me and Meryl, at least we've had some victories." He continued, "I've earned my spurs on the battlefield...Donald Trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor."

In November 2018 the CIA assessed with "high confidence" that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman ordered the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Under mounting pressure from lawmakers who wanted action against Saudi Arabia, Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a rare closed briefing of the Senate, disputed the CIA's conclusion and declared there was no direct evidence linking the Crown Prince to Khashoggi's assassination.

On December 19, 2018, Trump announced immediate U.S. withdrawal from Syria, over the objections of his national security advisers. Mattis had recently said that the U.S. would remain in Syria following the defeat of ISIL to ensure they did not regroup. The next day, he submitted his resignation after failing to persuade Trump to reconsider. His resignation letter contained language that appeared to criticize Trump's worldview—praising NATO, which Trump has often derided, and the 79-nation Defeat-ISIS coalition that Trump had just decided to abandon. Mattis also affirmed the need for "treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors," and remaining "resolute and unambiguous" against authoritarian states such as China and Russia. He wrote that Trump has "the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with [his] on these and other subjects." His resignation triggered alarm among historical allies. Mattis's letter said his resignation would be effective February 28, 2019. Three days later Trump moved Mattis's departure date up to January 1, after becoming angered by the implicit criticism of Trump's worldview in the resignation letter. On January 2, 2019, Trump criticized Mattis's performance as Secretary of Defense and said he had "essentially fired him."

The departure of several of Mattis's senior deputies in the fall of 2018 caused concern in foreign policy circles. Many senior officials served only because of Mattis and fought political battles with the White House regularly. One of the most serious areas of concern has been the potential for war with Iran because of the Trump Administration's withdrawal from the JCPOA at the same time the U.S. military is redeploying forces from the Middle East to the Pacific to better compete with China and contain North Korea. Mattis opposed the withdrawal from the JCPOA, calling the deal "the best we could come up with".

In his 2018 resignation letter, Mattis called both Russia and China "authoritarian models" rivaling U.S. interests.

Mattis was nominated as Secretary of Defense by President-elect Donald Trump, and confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2017. As Secretary of Defense, Mattis affirmed the United States' commitment to defending longtime ally South Korea in the wake of the 2017 North Korea crisis. An opponent of proposed collaboration with China and Russia, Mattis stressed what he saw as their "threat to the American-led world order". Mattis occasionally voiced his disagreement with certain Trump administration policies such as the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, withdrawals of troops from Syria and Afghanistan, and budget cuts hampering the ability to monitor the impacts of climate change. On December 20, 2018, after failing to convince Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw all American troops from Syria, Mattis announced his resignation effective February 28, 2019. Trump, angered by the language of the resignation letter, accelerated the departure date to January 1, stating he had essentially fired him.

As Mattis retired from the military in 2013, his nomination required a waiver of the National Security Act of 1947, which requires a seven-year waiting period before retired military personnel can assume the role of Secretary of Defense. Mattis was the second Secretary of Defense to receive such a waiver, following George Marshall. The waiver for Mattis passed 81–17 in the Senate, and 268–151 in the House. Mattis was subsequently confirmed as Secretary of Defense by a vote of 98–1 in the United States Senate on January 20, 2017. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was the sole "no" vote, stating that she was opposed to the waiver on principle.

In a January 2017 phone call with Saudi Arabia's deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Mattis "reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.–Saudi Arabia strategic relationship".

For his first official trip abroad, Mattis began a two-day visit with longtime U.S. ally South Korea on February 2, 2017. He warned North Korea that "any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated", and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with an "effective and overwhelming" response from the United States. During a press conference in London on March 31, 2017, with his UK counterpart Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon, Mattis said North Korea was behaving "in a very reckless manner" and must be stopped. During a Pentagon news conference on May 26, Mattis reported the U.S. was working with the UN, China, Japan, and South Korea to avoid "a military solution" with North Korea. On June 3 Mattis said the United States regarded North Korea as "clear and present danger" during a speech at the international security conference in Singapore. In a June 12 written statement to the House Armed Services Committee Mattis said North Korea was the "most urgent and dangerous threat to peace and security". On June 15 Mattis said the U.S. would win a war against North Korea, but "at great cost".

On March 22, 2017, during questioning from the U.S. Senate, Mattis affirmed his support for U.S. troops remaining in Iraq after the Battle of Mosul was concluded. Mattis responded to critics who suggested the Trump administration had loosened the rules of engagement for the U.S. military in Iraq after U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Mosul killed civilians, saying, "We go out of our way to always do everything humanly possible to reduce the loss of life or injury among innocent people." According to Airwars, the U.S.-led coalition killed as many as 6,000 civilians in Iraq and Syria in 2017.

On April 5, 2017, Mattis called the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack "a heinous act," and said it would be treated accordingly. On April 10 Mattis warned the Syrian government against using chemical weapons again. The following day, Mattis gave his first Pentagon news conference since becoming Secretary of Defense, saying ISIL's defeat remained "our priority," and the Syrian government would pay a "very, very stiff price" for further usage of chemical weapons. On April 21 Mattis said Syria still had chemical weapons and was in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. According to investigative journalist Bob Woodward, Trump ordered Mattis to assassinate Assad, but Mattis refused. On May 8 Mattis told reporters details of the proposed Syrian safe zones were "all in process right now" and the United States was involved with configuring them.

On April 20, 2017, one week after the Nangarhar airstrike, Mattis told reporters that the U.S. would not conduct a damage assessment "in terms of the number of people killed" in Afghanistan. Mattis traveled to Afghanistan days later and met with government officials, explaining that the purpose of the trip was to allow him to state his recommendations for U.S. strategy in the country. On June 13, Mattis said U.S. forces were "not winning" in Afghanistan and the administration would develop a new strategy by "mid-July" while speaking to the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services. On June 27 Mattis told reporters that he was creating a conflict-ending strategy for Afghanistan that would also "remove the danger to the Afghan people and to us and to all the nations that have been attacked by terrorist groups out of that region". On June 29 Mattis said the Obama administration "may have pulled our troops out too rapidly" and that he intended to submit a new Afghanistan strategy to Trump upon his return to Washington, D.C.

The United States has been openly arming the Syrian Kurdish fighters in the war against ISIL since May 2017. Following the start of the Turkish invasion of northern Syria aimed at ousting U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds from the enclave of Afrin, Mattis said in January 2018: "Turkey is a NATO ally. It's the only NATO country with an active insurgency inside its borders. And Turkey has legitimate security concerns." Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ urged the United States to halt its support for Kurdish YPG fighters, saying: "Those who support the terrorist organization will become a target in this battle."

On February 16, 2017, Mattis said the United States was not currently prepared to collaborate with Russia on military matters, including future anti-ISIL U.S. operations. In August 2017, he said: "Despite Russia's denials, we know they are seeking to redraw international borders by force, undermining the sovereign and free nations of Europe".

In 2017, Mattis said that budget cuts would hamper the ability to monitor the effects of global warming, and noted, "climate change is a challenge that requires a broader, whole-of-government response." He also told senators "climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today."

He is co-editor of the book Warriors & Citizens: American Views of Our Military, published in August 2016.

Then-President-elect Donald Trump met with Mattis for a little over one hour in Bedminster, New Jersey, on November 20, 2016. He later wrote on Twitter, "General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis, who is being considered for Secretary of Defense, was very impressive yesterday. A true General's General!" On December 1, 2016, Trump announced at a rally in Cincinnati that he would nominate Mattis for United States Secretary of Defense.

In December 2015, Mattis joined the advisory board of Spirit of America, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides assistance to support the safety and success of American service personnel and the local people they seek to help.

Speaking at a conference sponsored by The Heritage Foundation in Washington in 2015, Mattis said he believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin's intent is "to break NATO apart." Mattis has also spoken out against what he perceives as Russia's expansionist or bellicose policies in Syria, Ukraine and the Baltic states. In 2017 Mattis said that the world order is "under biggest attacks since World War Two, from Russia, terrorist groups, and China's actions in the South China Sea."

He also was noted for a willingness to remove senior leaders under his command at a time when the U.S. military seemed unable or unwilling to relieve underperforming or incompetent officers. During the division's push to Baghdad, Mattis relieved Colonel Joe D. Dowdy, commander of Regimental Combat Team-1. It was such a rare occurrence in the modern military that it made the front page of newspapers. Despite this, Mattis declined to comment on the matter publicly other than to say that the practice of officer relief remains alive, or at least "we are doing it in the Marines." Later interviews of Dowdy's officers and men revealed that "the colonel was doomed partly by an age-old wartime tension: Men versus mission—in which he favored his men", while Mattis insisted on execution of the mission to seize Baghdad swiftly.

After retiring from the military, Mattis worked for FWA Consultants and served as a member of the General Dynamics Board of Directors. Between 2013 and 2017, while on the board of General Dynamics, Mattis made more than $900,000 in compensation, including company stock. In August 2013, he was appointed an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and in 2016 he was named the Davies Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow.

From 2013 to January 2017, Mattis was a board member of Theranos, a health technology company that claimed to have devised revolutionary blood tests using very small amounts of blood. Previously, in mid-2012, a Department of Defense official evaluating Theranos's blood-testing technology for the military initiated a formal inquiry with the Food and Drug Administration about the company's intent to distribute its tests without FDA clearance. In August 2012 Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes asked Mattis, who had expressed interest in testing Theranos's technology in combat areas, to help. Within hours, Mattis forwarded his email exchange with Holmes to military officials, asking "how do we overcome this new obstacle". In July 2013 the Department of Defense gave Mattis permission to join Theranos's board provided he did not represent Theranos with regard to the blood-testing device and its potential acquisition by the Departments of the Navy or Defense.

Mattis supports a two-state solution model for Israeli–Palestinian peace. He has said the situation in Israel is "unsustainable" and that Israeli settlements harm prospects for peace and could lead to an apartheid-like situation in the West Bank. In particular, he has said that the perception of biased American support for Israel has made it difficult for moderate Arabs to show support for the United States. Mattis strongly supported Secretary of State John Kerry on the Middle East peace process, praising Kerry for being "wisely focused like a laser beam" on a two-state solution.

Mattis announced his retirement from the Marine Corps in April 2012, effective in a matter of months. Eight months later, the Defense Department nominated General Lloyd Austin to succeed Mattis, who retired in March 2013.

Mattis praises the friendship of regional US allies such as Jordan, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates. He also criticized Obama for seeing allies as "free-loading", saying: "For a sitting U.S. President to see our allies as freeloaders is nuts." He has cited the importance of the United Arab Emirates and Jordan as countries that wanted to help, for example, in filling in the gaps in Afghanistan. He criticized Obama's defense strategy as giving "the perception we're pulling back" from US allies. He stresses the need for the US to bolster its ties with allied intelligence agencies, particularly those of Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In 2012 Mattis argued for providing weapons to Syrian rebels as a way to fight back against Iranian proxies in Syria.

In early 2010 Mattis was reported to be on the list of generals being considered to replace James T. Conway as the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. In July he was recommended by Defense Secretary Robert Gates for nomination to replace David Petraeus as commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM), and formally nominated by President Obama on July 21. Mattis had planned to retire before the appointment.

Mattis was commissioned in the Marine Corps through the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps after graduating from Central Washington University. A career Marine, he gained a reputation among his peers for "intellectualism", and eventually advanced to the rank of general. From 2007 to 2010 he commanded the United States Joint Forces Command and concurrently served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. He was Commander of United States Central Command from 2010 to 2013 with Admiral Bob Harward serving as his Deputy Commander. After retiring from the military, he served in several private sector roles, including as a board member of Theranos.

Following a Department of Defense survey that showed only 55% of U.S. soldiers and 40% of Marines would report a colleague for abusing civilians, Mattis told Marines in May 2007 that "whenever you show anger or disgust toward civilians, it's a victory for al-Qaeda and other insurgents." Believing that a need for restraint in war is key to defeating an insurgency, he added: "every time you wave at an Iraqi civilian, al-Qaeda rolls over in its grave."

Mattis was promoted to four-star general and took control of JFCOM/SACT on November 9, 2007. He transferred the job of SACT to General Stéphane Abrial of France on September 9, 2009, but continued in command of JFCOM.

The Pentagon announced on May 31, 2006, that Mattis had been chosen to take command of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. On September 11, 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that President George W. Bush had nominated Mattis for appointment to the rank of general to command U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia. NATO agreed to appoint Mattis as Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. On September 28, 2007, the United States Senate confirmed Mattis's nomination, and he relinquished command of the I MEF on November 5, 2007, to Lieutenant General Samuel Helland.

After being promoted to lieutenant general, Mattis took command of Marine Corps Combat Development Command. On February 1, 2005, speaking at a forum in San Diego, he said "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right upfront with you, I like brawling." Mattis's remarks sparked controversy; General Michael Hagee, Commandant of the Marine Corps, issued a statement suggesting Mattis should have chosen his words more carefully but would not be disciplined.

In May 2004 Mattis ordered the 3 a.m. bombing of what he alleged was a suspected enemy safe house near the Syrian border, but was in fact a wedding party and resulted in the deaths of 42 civilians, including 11 women and 14 children. Mattis said it had taken him 30 seconds to decide whether to bomb the location. Describing the wedding as implausible, he said, "How many people go to the middle of the desert to hold a wedding 80 miles (130 km) from the nearest civilization? These were more than two dozen military-age males. Let's not be naive." The occurrence of a wedding was disputed by military officials, but the Associated Press obtained video footage showing a wedding party and a video the next day showed musical instruments and party decoration among the remains. When asked by the press about footage on Arabic television of a child's body being lowered into a grave, he replied: "I have not seen the pictures but bad things happen in wars. I don't have to apologise for the conduct of my men."

As a major general, Mattis commanded the 1st Marine Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the Iraq War. Mattis played key roles in combat operations in Fallujah, including negotiation with the insurgent command inside the city during Operation Vigilant Resolve in April 2004, as well as participation in planning of the subsequent Operation Phantom Fury in November.

Mattis is a Catholic, and has been described as "devout" and "committed." During the 2003 Iraq invasion, he often prayed with general John F. Kelly on Sundays. The Trump transition team's formal biography of Mattis described him as "the living embodiment of the Marine Corps motto, Semper Fidelis." He has declined when asked by reporters to discuss his faith in public. In a 2003 PBS interview, Mattis recalled how his Marines followed advice from his chaplain on gaining the support of Iraqi citizens: "On the suggestion of my Catholic chaplain the Marines would take chilled drinking water in bottles and walk out amongst the protesters and hand it out. It is just hard to throw a rock at somebody who has given you a cold drink of water and it's 120 degrees outside."

During the initial planning for the War in Afghanistan, Mattis led Task Force 58 in operations in the southern part of the country beginning in November 2001, becoming the first Marine Corps officer to command a Naval Task Force in combat. According to Mattis, his objective upon arriving in Afghanistan was "make sure that the enemy didn't feel like they had any safe haven, to destroy their sense of security in southern Afghanistan, to isolate Kandahar from its lines of communication, and to move against Kandahar." In December 2001 an airstrike carried out by a B-52 bomber inadvertently targeted a position held by U.S. special operations troops and Afghan militiamen in Urozgan Province. Numerous men were wounded in the incident, but Mattis repeatedly refused to dispatch helicopters from the nearby Camp Rhino to recover them, citing operational safety concerns. Instead an Air Force helicopter flew from Uzbekistan to ferry the men to the Marine Corps base where helicopters sat readily available but unauthorized to fly. Captain Jason Amerine blamed the delay caused by Mattis's refusal to order a rescue operation for the deaths of several men. Amerine wrote, "Every element in Afghanistan tried to help us except the closest friendly unit, commanded by Mattis," though he also wrote that "none of that was assessed properly because the [5th Special Forces Group] chose not to call for a formal investigation". This episode was used against Mattis when he was nominated for Defense Secretary in 2016.

His citation for the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross reads as follows: "While occupying key leadership positions within the United States Armed Forces and NATO between 2001 and 2012, General Mattis directly and repeatedly contributed to the Canadian Forces’ operational success in Afghanistan. Providing unprecedented access and championing Canadian participation in critical policy and training events, he helped shape Canadian counter-insurgency doctrine. Demonstrating unequivocal support and unwavering commitment to Canada, General Mattis has significantly strengthened Canadian-American relations and has been a critical enabler in both countries’ shared achievements in Afghanistan."

Mattis enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1969. He was commissioned a second lieutenant through the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps on January 1, 1972. During his service years, Mattis was considered an "intellectual" among the upper ranks. Robert H. Scales, a retired United States Army major general, called him "one of the most urbane and polished men I have known." As a lieutenant, Mattis was assigned as a rifle and weapons platoon commander in the 3rd Marine Division. As a captain, he was assigned as the Naval Academy Preparatory School's Battalion Officer, commanded rifle and weapons companies in the 1st Marine Regiment, then served at Recruiting Station Portland, Oregon, as a major.

James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is a retired United States Marine Corps general and former government official who served as the 26th United States Secretary of Defense from January 2017 through January 2019. During his 44 years in the Marine Corps, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.

Mattis was born on September 8, 1950, in Pullman, Washington. He is the son of Lucille (Proulx) Mattis (1922–2019) and John West Mattis (1915–1988), a merchant mariner. His mother immigrated to the United States from Canada as an infant and had worked in Army Intelligence in South Africa during the Second World War. Mattis's father moved to Richland, Washington, to work at a plant supplying fissile material to the Manhattan Project. Mattis was raised in a bookish household that did not own a television. He graduated from Richland High School in 1968. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Central Washington University in 1971 and a Master of Arts in international security affairs from the National War College of National Defense University in 1994.