U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis went to Capitol Hill Friday to meet with Senator John McCain after the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee threatened to issue a subpoena for information about the deaths of four U.S. soldiers killed in Niger.
After meeting privately with McCain in his office Friday, Mattis promised to keep better lines of communication with Congress.
“We could be better at communication, we can always improve communication and that’s exactly what we’ll do,” he said.
McCain said the meeting helped to clear up the information channels.
“I felt we were not getting a sufficient amount of information and we are clearing a lot of that up now,” he said.
Earlier this week, McCain threatened to use a subpoena to compel information from the Pentagon and Trump administration officials about the Niger attack. He complained that it was easier to get information about military operations under former President Barack Obama.
The U.S. military has blamed Islamic State militants for the deaths of the four Special Forces soldiers in southwestern Niger and has said it is conducting an investigation into the Oct. 4 attack.
– VOA
