Obama Cabinet and Key White House Staff
3. Robert Gates (R) - Secretary of Defense
Secretary of Defense, Bush administration
Former Director, Central Intelligence
Named to Remain as Secretary of Defense: December 1, 2008
Obama’s comments:
“At a time when we face an unprecedented transition amidst two wars, I have asked Robert Gates to continue as Secretary of Defense, and I’m pleased that he’s accepted. Two years ago, he took over the Pentagon at a difficult time. He restored accountability. He won the confidence of military commanders, and the trust of our brave men and women in uniform, and their families. He earned the respect of members of Congress on both sides of the aisle for his pragmatism and competence. He knows that we need a sustainable national security strategy—and that includes a bipartisan consensus at home.
“As I said throughout the campaign, I will be giving Secretary Gates and our military a new mission as soon as I take office: responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control. We will also ensure that we have the strategy—and resources—to succeed against al Qaeda and the Taliban. As Bob said not too long ago, Afghanistan is where the war on terror began, and it is where it must end. And going forward, we will continue to make the investments necessary to strengthen our military and increase our ground forces to defeat the threats of the 21st century.”
Others’ comments:
“Mr. Gates, who served as C.I.A. director under the first President Bush, would not have to be reconfirmed by the Senate. The prospect of retaining him generated praise from the military establishment and Capitol Hill, where he is viewed as a pragmatist who turned the Pentagon around after the tumultuous tenure of Donald Rumsfeld.
“But it also stirred a debate inside Mr. Obama’s circles, where some advisers worried that the decision to turn to a Republican appointee—something President Bill Clinton did in naming William S. Cohen to the defense post in 1997—would reinforce the notion that Democrats could not manage the military. ‘It makes them look like they’re too wimpy to be trusted to run the building,’ said one adviser who asked not to be named.
“Keeping Mr. Gates after a polarizing campaign on the war also seemed incongruous to some. ‘I really can’t begin to understand from a political point of view how Barack Obama, a person who got the nomination because he ran against the Iraq war, can keep around the guy who’s been in charge of it for the last two years,’ said Loren B. Thompson, head of the Lexington Institute, a research organization.”
—The New York Times
Approved: Gates does not need to be reconfirmed.
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