Bradley Byers, 38, a former Marine F-18 fighter pilot who had flown combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, joined Mattis’s office as a civilian liaison to the White House. He was part of a so-called “Beachhead Team” of three dozen Trump appointees at the Pentagon who did not have to be confirmed by the Senate. They were supposed to work in Mattis’s suite of offices at the Pentagon and give the White House leverage in Mattis’s operation.
