fred. >> and mattis said in his resignation let they're he wanted to stay until february 28th. this is in part what it said. the end date for my tenure is february 28th, 2019. that should allow sufficient time for them to be confirmed and make sure the interests are articulate and protected at upcoming events to include congressional posture hearings and the nato defense ministerial defense in february. a full transition to a new secretary of defense occurs well in advance of the transition of chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in september in order to ensure stability within the department. now the sequence changed a little bit. would mattis have been informed directly or learned this kind of via tweet or publicly? >> yeah, we are hearing that he got a phone call from someone in the administration this morning, saying it's going to be january 1st.