Trio of military men gain growing influence with Trump

[...] chief strategist Steve Bannon, a media executive with no foreign policy experience, now has a seat on Trump's Principals Committee, which weighs pressing national security issues.

Both moved swiftly to address gaps in the measure, with Mattis asking that Iraqis who helped U.S. troops be exempt and Kelly clarifying that green card holders would not be affected.

[...] Kelly launched a particularly robust defense of it, which was welcomed by the White House, an administration official said.

Loren Schulman, a national security and defense expert at the Center for a New American Security, said the generals "speak similar language, in terms of how to assess risk or what military options are possible or relationships overseas — those are the good things they bring to the table."

What's bad, Schulman said, is that "military tools are not the only tools in the foreign policy tool kit."

[...] far, the military leaders have overshadowed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former head of Exxon Mobil.

In response to such concerns, acting department spokesman Mark Toner, a career foreign service officer who served as deputy spokesman under John Kerry, said late Wednesday that press briefings would resume soon.