THE MATTIS TOUCH: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who once reportedly joked that all he needs to be happy is two pairs of jeans and a full tank of gas, arrived Tuesday in Colorado Springs in his own frugal style. He ditched reservations at a landmark downtown hotel for rooms at a hotel by the highway. After a rousing commencement speech to the Air Force Academy graduating class Wednesday, Mattis will spend this morning at a change-of-command ceremony at U.S. Northern Command before heading back to Washington, D.C. Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy is set to take over the combatant command as well as North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, during the ceremony at Peterson Air Force Base.

Mattis sat down Wednesday to an interview with our own Travis Tritten, who is one of the reporters with him on the trip. Here is what Mattis had to say: