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The active-duty two-star Marine general former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis tapped to serve as the on-camera spokesman for the Pentagon asked not to take the job, after Mattis resigned, Pentagon officials say.

One official said that in a meeting with Shanahan, Marine Maj. Gen. Burke Whitman gave five reasons why he preferred not to take the job, and that after considering the reasons, Shanahan agreed.

The Pentagon announced in November that Mattis had tapped Marine Maj. Gen. Burke Whitman to fill the position that had been effectively vacant since chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White stopped briefing in May 2018.

White resigned abruptly on New Year’s Eve, Mattis’ last day as defense secretary. Her deputy, Naval Reserve Captain Charles Summers, has been appointed in an acting capacity to fill her position.

Whitman’s appointment as the face of the Pentagon was controversial because of the strong tradition for members of the U.S. military to remain apolitical, while the Pentagon’s spokesman job often requires defending or explaining administration policy.

[Enter Patrick Shanahan: The Pentagon ‘remains focused on safeguarding our nation’]

The last uniformed Pentagon spokesman to serve as primary solo briefer was Rear Adm. John Kirby, who was forced out by Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Carter believed that a civilian, not a military officer, ought to be the one to defend Obama administration policy.

Kirby retired, hung up his uniform, and became the State Department spokesman, briefing as a civilian.

Kirby is now a paid contributor to CNN.

More typically, a civilian political appointee is paired with a military officer at the podium in the Pentagon briefing room, so that the civilian could handle policy questions and the military briefer could provide context on operational details.

Whitman, who was seen at the Pentagon Wednesday, will now be looking for a new assignment from the Marine Corps.

Whitman had just assumed command of the Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces North in New Orleans in September, a month before Mattis picked him to be the spokesman.

That job is still unfilled, so it is possible he could return to the assignment.