“Two years into his presidency, Donald Trump is fueling unprecedented uncertainty and anxiety inside the Pentagon. In private conversations over the past month, many of them unsolicited, more than a dozen key military officers, enlisted personnel and senior civilians have expressed worry and concern to CNN. None of the officials have spoken publicly about this, as military law prohibits active-duty personnel from criticizing a sitting president.”

“It’s not just Trump’s unpredictable decision making that has officials on edge, it’s also his penchant for politicizing the military— something that’s come into focus in recent months as he’s struggled to fulfill his campaign promise to crack down on immigration and build a border wall. His decision to draw down troops in Syria and his claims that ISIS is defeated have also rankled military commanders who felt it wasn’t well thought out.”

Washington Post:  “The Trump administration is seeking to expand the scope and sophistication of American missile defenses on a scale not seen since President Ronald Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ initiative in a new strategy that President Trump plans to roll out personally on Thursday alongside military leaders at the Pentagon.”

New York Times: “Despite being a contemporary of Mr. Trump’s, however, Bolton is not a member of his inner circle. He does not have the same relationship with Mr. Trump that he had with Mr. Bush. Sometimes, with aides, the president refers to him as ‘Mike Bolton.’”

Washington Post: “One false claim noticeably absent from President Trump’s speech was the assertion made by the president and many of his allies in recent days that terrorists are infiltrating the country by way of the southern border. Fact-checkers and TV anchors, including those on Fox News, spent days challenging the truthfulness of the claim.”

President Trump “is having a tough time hiring a Pentagon chief after the abrupt departure of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis late last month,” Politico reports.

“The refusals are particularly striking given that the top Pentagon job is historically among the Cabinet’s most prestigious and powerful, and coveted by national security veterans. But Mattis’ resignation — announced in a letter indicating that Trump had disregarded his advice on fundamental issues — has reinforced the image of a commander in chief unafraid to buck his top military advisers.”

“The Trump administration is considering Jim Webb, a former Democratic senator and Reagan-era secretary of the Navy, to be the next defense secretary, according to three officials, potentially bypassing more hawkish Republicans whose names have been floated to replace Jim Mattis,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Webb, an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war, is being considered as President Trump seeks to carry out campaign promises to withdraw American troops from Syria and Afghanistan.”

Playbook: “The chatter among people familiar with the selection… is that few outside the administration want the job of replacing Jim Mattis as defense secretary, given the president’s decision to yank American troops out of Syria and other recent moves.”

“White House intimate Sen. Tom Cotton, a former Army captain and Iraq War veteran, doesn’t want to run the Pentagon, we’re told. Neither does retired Gen. Jack Keane. So Patrick Shanahan may be running the E Ring indefinitely as the incoming acting secretary, unless intel chief Dan Coats, or someone else, catches Trump’s fancy.”

Speaking to members of the military during his surprise trip overseas this week, President Trump spoke about the raises they received, the Washington Post reports.

Said Trump: “You haven’t gotten one in more than 10 years — more than 10 years,” he said Wednesday. “And we got you a big one. I got you a big one. I got you a big one.”

He continued: “They said: ‘You know, we could make it smaller. We could make it 3 percent. We could make it 2 percent. We could make it 4 percent.’ I said: ‘No. Make it 10 percent. Make it more than 10 percent.’ ”

“The problem with those statements? They’re not true.”

President Trump said many people want outgoing Defense Secretary James Mattis’s job, The Hill reports.

Said Trump: “I will say that I’ve got everybody — everybody and his uncle wants that position. And also, by the way, everybody and her aunt — just so I won’t be criticized for that last statement,”

President Trump and the White House communications team “revealed that a U.S. Navy SEAL team was deployed to Iraq after the president secretly traveled to the region to meet with American forces serving in a combat zone for the first time since being elected to office,” Newsweek reports.

“While the commander-in-chief can declassify information, usually the specific special operations unit is not revealed to the American public, especially while U.S. service members are deployed.”

“The president’s video posted Wednesday did not shield the faces of special operation forces. Current and former Defense Department officials told Newsweek that information concerning what units are deployed and where is almost always classified and is a violation of operational security.”

President Trump’s surprise orders to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan — and Defense Secretary James Mattis’ subsequent resignation — have left high-ranking U.S. military officials in the dark, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said Gen. Robert Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps: “I don’t think anybody really knows exactly what’s going to happen. I’ve read the same stuff in the newspaper you did, I have a little more knowledge than that, but not a whole lot more.”

“President Trump, angry over days of news coverage characterizing the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis as a rebuke of the president, has told administration officials that he is considering removing Mr. Mattis from his job by Jan. 1, two months before he had planned to depart,” the New York Times reports.

“The president, a notoriously mercurial leader, has been known to float ideas among his aides only to then change his mind. But aides said he was furious that Mr. Mattis’s resignation letter — in which he rebuked the president’s rejection of international allies and his failure to check authoritarian governments — had led to days of negative news coverage.”

The Washington Post reports Mattis is out and deputy Patrick Shanahan will assume title of acting secretary.

“I am shaken by the resignation of General Mattis. For what it means to our country, for the message it sends to our troops, and for the indication of what his view is of the commander-in-chief.”

— House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), quoted by The Hill.