president trump is reevaluating his plan to withdrawal all u.s. troops from syria this according to republican senator, lindsay graham, and it comes on the day james mattis will leave the pentagon, and that happens at midnight tonight. barbara starr is at the pentagon with more this morning. good morning, barbara. >> good morning, erica. this is james mattis' last day on the job, and at midnight tonight, there will be mr. mattis on the line and shanahan, the deputy secretary who will become the acting secretary of defense at midnight, and there will be that transfer of power because the secretary of defense is a command position, and it's a mark of respect and a little bit of a ceremony but it's necessary. they will then notify the white house at midnight that mr. shanahan has all the authorities of the achieve the goals of the president. >> senator graham seeming to suggest the president is rethinking a rapid withdrawal of 2,000 forces from syria, and it's really not clear what will happen next. >> you are right, barbara, it's not clear on many levels what will happen next, but thank you for all that background. here with us now to discuss it, we have cnn global affairs analyst, and a cnn military analyst, happy new year to both of you. general hertling, lindsay graham's impression seems to be that he had gotten through to the president, he had gotten through to the president in