Trump announces Secretary of Defense James Mattis will retire at the end of February

President Donald Trump announced Defense Secretary James Mattis will retire at the end of February.

In his resignation letter, obtained by ABC News, Mattis said the president has a right to a defense secretary "whose views are better aligned with yours... I believe it is right for me to step down from my position. "

"My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues," Mattis wrote. "We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances."

Mattis added that he believes the U.S. "...must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours.

Mattis' announcement comes a little over two years after Trump nominated him to be secretary.

Mattis retired from the Marine Corps in 2013 after a 41-year career in which he led troops in Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War, in Afghanistan during the initial U.S. wave in 2001 and in Iraq during the 2003 invasion. He capped his career as the head of U.S. Central Command, where he was in charge of all American forces serving in the Middle East and oversaw the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Asked at the Reagan National Defense Forum earlier in December if he had any plans to leave office, the secretary instead spoke about his love for U.S. troops and revealed once again a deep-seated duty to serve the country.

"When the President of the United States asks you to do something in America, you just do it. To quote Nike, 'Just Do It,'" Mattis told an audience at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Reports have circulated for months that Mattis could be the next official to leave office, especially as he has been seen as curbing the president's more impulsive military and personnel choices.

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