Mattis tours Amazon headquarters during West Coast swing

Defense Secretary James Mattis visited Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle Thursday on day one of a two day West Coast trip that includes scheduled visits with tech sites in Washington state and California.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos posted a photo of him showing Mattis around Amazon’s Seattle headquarters, which was scheduled to be the last stop on Mattis’ trip to the state. The defense chief also visited Naval Base Kitsap in the city earlier in the day.

President Trump, Mattis’ boss, has been an outspoken critic of Bezos and Amazon, who owns the Washington Post. President Trump has accused the “Amazon Washington Post” of being “a lobbyist weapon against politicians” and has accused the the company of “not paying internet taxes.“

“A pleasure to host #SecDef James Mattis at Amazon HQ in Seattle today,” Bezos wrote on Twitter.

A pleasure to host #SecDef James Mattis at Amazon HQ in Seattle today pic.twitter.com/JnQZoSOnFN

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) August 10, 2017

Mattis’ trip will include his first official visit Friday to the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental (DIUx), a Pentagon program based in California that helps funnel civilian technology to the Defense Department for use by the military.

Mattis will also visit Google’s sprawling campus in Palo Alto on Friday. He is then scheduled to return to Washington, D.C., later in the day.

{mosads}The defense secretary told reporters en route to Seattle on Thursday that he wants to see for himself what DIUx is contributing to the Pentagon. When asked by reporters if he was convinced of DIUx’s value, Mattis stated that he wasn’t “questioning” the importance of the project’s mission.

“I want to see results. I want to see what they’re doing with their location and the ideas that they’re bringing, they’re harvesting — what are we getting out of it?” Mattis said Thursday.

“I’m not coming out here questioning the mission, I think, is what — is what you’re asking, though,” he added.