Trump will tell Mad Dog Mattis to produce plans to smash ISIS - and U.S. artillery and attack helicopters could pound their capital Raqqa 

• e-mail

A draft executive action for President Donald Trump could include the use of attack helicopters and artillery on the ground in a new tactic to try to destroy the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.

The order, which the White House is preparing for Trump's signature, would require the Pentagon to produce new military options within 30 days, the New York Times reported.

Another draft memorandum would set up a 30-day review for 'rebuilding the U.S. armed forces.' 

A draft order obtained by the Washington Post calls for a ‘new Nuclear Posture Review’ to ensure that the U.S. nuclear triad is ‘modern, robust, flexible, resilient, and appropriately tailored to deter 21st century threats and reassure our allies and partners, and achieve Presidential objectives should deterrence fail.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis (R) is greeted by Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as he arrives for his first day of work at the Pentagon

It calls for U.S. nuclear infrastructure to be ‘sufficiently agile, flexible, and responsive to ensure its ability to support the deterrence and extended deterrence needs into the indefinite future.

Trump travels to the Pentagon Friday to swear-in retired Gen. James Mattis to become the new civilian head of the Defense Department. To be confirmed, Mattis required a special waiver from the Congress from a requirement that any Pentagon head be out of the military for seven years. 

The draft order reviewed by the Times would provide Pentagon brass with 30 days to produce planning options within 30 days.

Trump is expected to sign the new directives during his Pentagon visit, after a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Times reported. 

Presdident Donald Trump, who addressed Republican lawmakers in Philadelphia Thursday, visits the Pentagon on Friday

It wasn't immediately clear whether the new tactics would require the insertion of additional forces into Syria. In December, the U.S. sent an additional 200 troops there to join 300 special forces, the Times reported at the time.

The move came as a coalition of 45,000 forces, including 13,000 Arabs, approached the city.  

The nuclear triad became a campaign issue in a 2015 CNN debe when Trump got asked about it and didn't appear to know what it was, after getting questioned about it directly by conservative moderator Hugh Hewitt.

'We have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ballgame,' Trump responded, 'The biggest problem we have is nuclear — nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now.'

Hewitt asked him again about the triad, which relates to the bombers, missiles, and subs that carry nuclear weapons. 

“I think — I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me,' Trump responded, avoiding the concept completely.

Rival, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, then jumped in with his own explanation of what the nuclear triad was. 

Trump campaigned in part on a secret plan to defeat ISIS.  He told Fox News host Greta Van Susteren in September 2015 that the plan was 'foolproof.'

'I do know what to do and I would know how to bring ISIS to the table or, beyond that, defeat ISIS very quickly. And I’m not gonna tell you what it is tonight.'

He continued: 'If I win, I don’t want the enemy to know what I’m doing. Unfortunately, I’ll probably have to tell at some point, but there is a method of defeating them quickly and effectively and having total victory ... All I can tell you is that it is a foolproof way of winning the war with ISIS and it will 100 per cent — at a minimum they’ll come to the table and actually they’ll be defeated very quickly.'

Trump said later in the campaign he would let his generals devise the plan.