Robert Michael Gates
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Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by president
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and was retained for service by President Barack Obama. Gates began his career serving as an officer in the United States Air Force but was quickly recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Gates served for 26 years in the CIA and the
National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...
, and was
Director of Central Intelligence The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security C ...
under President George H. W. Bush. After leaving the CIA, Gates became president of Texas A&M University and was a member of several corporate boards. Gates served as a member of the
Iraq Study Group The Iraq Study Group (ISG) also known as the Baker-Hamilton Commission was a ten-person bipartisan panel appointed on March 15, 2006, by the United States Congress, that was charged with assessing the situation in Iraq and the US-led Iraq War and ...
, the bipartisan commission co-chaired by James A. Baker III and
Lee H. Hamilton Lee Herbert Hamilton (born April 20, 1931) is an American politician and lawyer from Indiana. He is a former member of the United States House of Representatives and a former member of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council. A member of the ...
, that studied the lessons of the Iraq War. Gates was nominated by Republican president
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
as Secretary of Defense two years after the 2004 election, replacing
Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Presi ...
. He was confirmed with bipartisan support. In a 2007 profile written by former
national security advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...
Zbigniew Brzezinski, '' Time'' named Gates one of the year's most influential people. In 2008, Gates was named one of America's Best Leaders by '' U.S. News & World Report''. He continued to serve as Secretary of Defense in President Barack Obama's administration. He retired in 2011. "He'll be remembered for making us aware of the danger of over-reliance on military intervention as an instrument of American foreign policy," said former senator
David L. Boren David Lyle Boren (born April 21, 1941) is a retired American lawyer and politician from the state of Oklahoma. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as 21st governor of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979 and three terms in the United States Senat ...
. Gates was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Obama during his retirement ceremony. Since leaving the Obama Administration, Gates was elected president of the Boy Scouts of America, served as
Chancellor of the College of William & Mary The chancellor of the College of William & Mary is the ceremonial head of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States, chosen by the university's Board of Visitors. The office was created by the college's Royal Charter, ...
, and served as a member on several corporate boards.


Early life and education

Gates was born in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Isabel V. (née Goss) and Melville A. "Mel" Gates. Gates attained the rank of
Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...
in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and Silver Buffalo Award from the BSA as an adult. He graduated from
Wichita High School East Wichita East High School, known locally as "East", is a public secondary school in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is operated by Wichita USD 259 school district. The centrally located school's campus and the building's Collegiate Gothic styl ...
in 1961. Gates is also a
Vigil Honor It is important to distinguish between ''awards,'' ''honors,'' and ''membership levels'' in the Order of the Arrow – the honor camping society of the Boy Scouts of America. The Founder's Award, the Red Arrow Award, and the Distinguished Serv ...
member within the Order of the Arrow, BSA's National Honor Society. He was selected as the 2017 BSA National Alumnus of the Year. Gates then received a scholarship to attend the College of William & Mary, graduating in 1965 with a B.A. in history. At William & Mary, Gates was an active member and president of the
Alpha Phi Omega Alpha Phi Omega (), commonly known as APO, but also A-Phi-O and A-Phi-Q, is a coeducational service fraternity. It is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of over 25,0 ...
(national service fraternity) chapter and the Young Republicans; he was also the business manager for the ''William and Mary Review'', a literary and art magazine. At his William & Mary graduation ceremony, Gates received the
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award is an award presented to graduating seniors, alumni, and faculty of selected colleges and universities in the Southern United States for excellence of character and service to humanity. The awards stem from the ...
naming him the graduate who "has made the greatest contribution to his fellow man". Gates then received an M.A. in history from Indiana University Bloomington in 1966. He completed his Ph.D. in Russian and Soviet history at Georgetown University in 1974. The title of his Georgetown doctoral dissertation is ''Soviet Sinology: An Untapped Source for Kremlin Views and Disputes Relating to Contemporary Events in China'' and is available from University Microfilms International as document number 7421652. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from William & Mary (1998), the University of Oklahoma (2011), Georgetown University (2014) and an honorary doctorate award from Kansas State University (2012). He married his wife Rebecca "Becky" Gates (formerly Wilkie) on January 7, 1967, and they have two children.


Intelligence career


Positions

While at Indiana University, Gates was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency and joined in 1966. On January 4, 1967, he was commissioned as a
second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
in the United States Air Force after attending
Officer Training School Officer Training School (OTS) is a United States Air Force and United States Space Force commissioning program located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Overview Officer Training School is a part of the Jeanne M. Holm Center fo ...
under CIA sponsorship. From 1967 to 1969, he was assigned to the
Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
as an intelligence officer, which included a year at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, where he delivered intelligence briefings to
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...
crews. After fulfilling his military obligation, he rejoined the CIA as an intelligence analyst. Gates left the CIA in 1974 to serve on the staff of the
National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...
. He returned to the CIA in late 1979, serving briefly as the director of the Strategic Evaluation Center, Office of Strategic Research. He was named the Director of the DCI/DDCI Executive Staff in 1981, Deputy Director for Intelligence in 1982, and Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from April 18, 1986, to March 20, 1989.


Director of Central Intelligence

Gates was Deputy
Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor (NSA),The National Security Advisor and Staff: p. 1. is a senior aide in the Executive Office of the President, based at t ...
from March until August 1989, and was Assistant to the President and
Deputy National Security Adviser The United States Deputy National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the United States National Security Council, serving under the President's National Security Advisor. Among other r ...
from August 1989 until November 1991. Gates was nominated to become the
Director of Central Intelligence The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security C ...
(head of the CIA) in early 1987. He withdrew his name after it became clear the Senate would reject the nomination due to controversy about his role in the Iran-Contra affair. Gates was nominated, for the second time, for the position of Director of Central Intelligence by President George H. W. Bush on May 14, 1991, confirmed by the Senate on November 5, and sworn in on November 6. During a Senate committee hearing on his nomination, former division chief
Melvin Goodman Melvin Allan "Mel" Goodman is a national security and intelligence expert. He has worked as an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the State Department, taught at the National War College and Johns Hopkins University, and is a s ...
testified that the agency was the most corrupt and slanted during the tenure of William Casey with Gates serving as deputy. According to Goodman, Gates was part of an agency leadership that proliferated false information and ignored 'reality'. National Intelligence Council chairman Harold P. Ford testified that during his tenure, Gates had transgressed
professional boundaries Professional boundaries are an important consideration in the relationship between any professional and their client. Nurse-client boundaries Boundaries are an integral part of the nurse-client relationship. They represent invisible structures i ...
. Deputy directors during his tenure were
Richard J. Kerr Richard James Kerr (born October 4, 1935) was Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1989 to 1992. He was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He received a B.A. in history from the University of Oregon and started graduate work there t ...
(from November 6, 1991, until March 2, 1992) and Adm. William O. Studeman (from April 9, 1992, through the remainder of Gates' tenure). He served until 1993.


Level of involvement in the Iran–Contra scandal

Because of his senior status in the CIA, Gates was close to many figures who played significant roles in the Iran–Contra Affair and was in a position to have known of their activities. In 1984, as deputy director of CIA, Gates advocated that the U.S. initiate a bombing campaign against Nicaragua and that the U.S. do everything in its power short of direct military invasion of the country to remove the Sandinista government. Gates was an early subject of Independent Counsel's investigation, but the investigation of Gates intensified in the spring of 1991 as part of a larger inquiry into the Iran–Contra activities of CIA officials. This investigation received an additional impetus in May 1991, when President George H. W. Bush nominated Gates to be
Director of Central Intelligence The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security C ...
(DCI). The chairman and vice chairman of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) requested, in a letter to the Independent Counsel on May 15, 1991, any information that would "significantly bear on the fitness" of Gates for the CIA post. Gates consistently testified that he first heard on October 1, 1986, from
Charles E. Allen Charles E. Allen (born 1936) is an American public servant, notable for his roles at the United States Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis and, before that, the Central Intelligence Agency. Department of Homel ...
, the national intelligence officer who was closest to the Iran initiative, that proceeds from the Iran arms sales may have been diverted to support the
Contras The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 fol ...
. Other evidence proves, however, that Gates received a report on the diversion during the summer of 1986 from DDI Richard Kerr. The issue was whether the Independent Counsel could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gates was deliberately not telling the truth when he later claimed not to have remembered any reference to the diversion before meeting with Allen in October.
Grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
secrecy rules hampered Independent Counsel's response. Nevertheless, in order to answer questions about Gates' prior testimony, Independent Counsel accelerated his investigation of Gates in the summer of 1991. This investigation was substantially completed by September 3, 1991, at which time Independent Counsel determined that Gates' Iran–Contra activities and testimony did not warrant prosecution. Independent Counsel made this decision subject to developments that could have warranted reopening his inquiry, including testimony by Clair E. George, the CIA's former deputy director for operations. At the time Independent Counsel reached this decision, the possibility remained that George could have provided information warranting reconsideration of Gates' status in the investigation. George refused to cooperate with Independent Counsel and was indicted on September 19, 1991. George subpoenaed Gates to testify as a defense witness at George's first trial in the summer of 1994, but Gates was never called. The final report of the Independent Counsel for Iran–Contra Scandal, issued on August 4, 1993, said that Gates "was close to many figures who played significant roles in the Iran/contra affair and was in a position to have known of their activities. The evidence developed by Independent Counsel did not warrant indictment ..."


Career after leaving the CIA


1993–1999

After retiring from the CIA in 1993, Gates worked as an academic and lecturer. He evaluated student theses for the International Studies Program of the University of Washington. He lectured at
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, Yale,
Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...
, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Indiana,
Louisiana State Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisian ...
,
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, and the College of William & Mary. Gates served as a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Oklahoma International Programs Center and a trustee of the endowment fund for the College of William & Mary, his alma mater, which in 1998 conferred upon him honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. In 1996, Gates'
autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
, ''From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War'', was published. Gates has also written numerous articles on government and foreign policy and has been a frequent contributor to the
op-ed page An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. ...
of '' The New York Times''.


Texas A&M

Gates was the interim Dean of the
Bush School of Government and Public Service The Bush School of Government and Public Service is an undergraduate and graduate college of Texas A&M University founded in 1997 under former US President George H. W. Bush's philosophy that "public service is a noble calling." Since then, the ...
at Texas A&M University from 1999 to 2001. On August 1, 2002, he became the 22nd president of Texas A&M. As the university president, Gates made progress in four key areas of the university's "Vision 2020" plan, a plan to become one of the top 10 public universities by 2020. The four key areas include improving student diversity, increasing the size of the faculty, building new academic facilities, and enriching the undergraduate and graduate education experience. During his tenure, Gates encouraged the addition of 440 new faculty positions and a $300 million campus construction program, and saw increases in minority enrollment. On February 2, 2007, Gates was conferred the title of president emeritus by unanimous vote of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Gates and his wife Becky received honorary doctoral degrees from Texas A&M on August 10, 2007. Gates left the presidency of Texas A&M University on December 16, 2006, and was sworn in two days later as Secretary of Defense. He returned on April 21, 2009, as the speaker for the annual
Aggie Muster Aggie Muster is a tradition at Texas A&M University which celebrates the camaraderie of the university while remembering the lives of alumni who have died, specifically those in the past year. Muster officially began on April 21, 1903, as a day for ...
ceremony. He is one of only 6 speakers not to be a graduate of Texas A&M University since Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke in 1946. In his affiliation with A&M, Gates has served on the
National Security Higher Education Advisory Board The National Security Higher Education Advisory Board (NSHEAB) was created by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert S. Mueller III on December 15, 2005. Operated by the FBI and paneled by approximately 20 American university presiden ...
.


Corporate boards

Gates has been a member of the board of trustees of Fidelity Investments, and on the board of directors of NACCO Industries, Inc., Brinker International, Inc., Parker Drilling Company, Science Applications International Corporation, and VoteHere, a technology company which sought to provide cryptography and computer software security for the electronic election industry. Following his nomination, a White House spokeswoman said that Gates planned to sell all the stock he owns in individual companies and sever all ties with them if confirmed by the Senate.


Public service

Gates is a former president of the National Eagle Scout Association. In January 2004, Gates co-chaired a
Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...
task force on U.S. relations towards Iran. Among the task force's primary recommendation was to directly engage Iran on a diplomatic level regarding Iranian nuclear technology. Key points included a negotiated position that would allow Iran to develop its nuclear program in exchange for a commitment from Iran to use the program only for peaceful means. At the time of his nomination by President George W. Bush to the position of Secretary of Defense, Gates was also a member of the
Iraq Study Group The Iraq Study Group (ISG) also known as the Baker-Hamilton Commission was a ten-person bipartisan panel appointed on March 15, 2006, by the United States Congress, that was charged with assessing the situation in Iraq and the US-led Iraq War and ...
, also called the Baker Commission, which was expected to issue its report in November 2006, following the mid-term election on November 7. He was replaced by former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger.


Declined appointment as Director of National Intelligence

In February 2005, Gates wrote in a message posted on his school's website that "there seems to be a growing number of rumors in the media and around campus that I am leaving Texas A&M to become the new
director of national intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Commu ...
in Washington, D.C." The message said that "To put the rumors to rest, I was indeed asked to take the position, wrestled with perhaps the most difficult—and close—decision of my life, and last week declined the position." Gates committed to remain as president of Texas A&M University and President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
offered the position of United States Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to
John Negroponte John Dimitri Negroponte (; born July 21, 1939) is an American diplomat. He is currently a James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is a former J.B. and Maurice C. Sha ...
, who accepted. Gates said in a 2005 discussion with the university's Academy for Future International Leaders that he had tentatively decided to accept the DNI position out of a sense of duty and had written an email that would be sent to students during the press conference to announce his decision, explaining that he was leaving to serve the U.S. once again. Gates, however, took the weekend to consider what his final decision should be, and ultimately decided that he was unwilling to return to Washington, D.C., in any capacity, simply because he "had nothing to look forward to in D.C. and plenty to look forward to at A&M".


Secretary of Defense


Bush Administration

On November 8, 2006, after the
2006 midterm election The 2006 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006, in the middle of Republican President George W. Bush's second term. Democrats won control of both houses of Congress, which was the first and only time either party did so ...
, President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
announced his intent to nominate Gates to succeed the resigning
Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Presi ...
as U.S. Secretary of Defense. Gates was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate Armed Services Committee on December 5, 2006. During his confirmation hearing on December 5, 2006, Gates replied to a question that, in his opinion, the United States was neither winning nor losing the war in Iraq. The next day, Gates was confirmed by the full Senate by a margin of 95–2, with Republican Senators Rick Santorum and Jim Bunning casting the two dissenting votes and senators Elizabeth Dole, Evan Bayh, and Joe Biden not voting. On December 18, 2006, Gates was sworn in as Secretary of Defense by White House Chief of Staff
Josh Bolten Joshua Brewster Bolten (born August 16, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician. Bolten served as the White House Chief of Staff to U.S. President George W. Bush, replacing Andrew Card on April 14, 2006. Previously, he served as the Director o ...
at a private White House ceremony and then by Vice President
Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...
at the Pentagon. Under the Bush administration, Gates directed the war in Iraq's
troop surge The Iraq War troop surge of 2007, commonly known as the troop surge, or simply the surge, refers to the George W. Bush administration's 2007 increase in the number of U.S. military combat troops in Iraq in order to provide security to Baghdad an ...
, a marked change in tactics from his predecessor. With violence on the decline in Iraq, in 2008, Gates also began the troop withdrawal of Iraq, a policy continued into the Obama administration.


Walter Reed Medical Center scandal

Several months after his appointment, '' The Washington Post'' published a series of articles beginning February 18, 2007 that brought to the spotlight the
Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal The Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal refers to a series of allegations of unsatisfactory conditions, treatment of patients, and management at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington, D.C. culminating in two articles ...
. As a result of the fallout from the incident, Gates announced the removal of
Secretary of the Army The secretary of the Army (SA or SECARMY) is a senior civilian official within the United States Department of Defense, with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, insta ...
Francis J. Harvey Francis Joseph Harvey (born July 8, 1943) served as the 19th Secretary of the United States Army from November 19, 2004, to March 9, 2007. Education and family Harvey was born and raised in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He earned his doctorate in Metal ...
, and later, he approved the removal of Army Surgeon General
Kevin C. Kiley Kevin Christopher Kiley (born October 18, 1950) is a former lieutenant general in the United States Army who served as the 41st Surgeon General of the United States Army and the commander of the U.S. Army Medical Command, Fort Sam Houston, Tex ...
.


Controversy over Joint Chiefs

On June 8, 2007, Gates announced that he would not recommend the renomination of Peter Pace, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, due to anticipated difficulties with the confirmation process. Instead, Gates recommended
Mike Mullen Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...
, the
Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the professional head of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the secretary of the Navy. In a separate capacity as a memb ...
at the time, to fill the position. Gates stated: "I am no stranger to contentious confirmations, and I do not shrink from them. However, I have decided that at this moment in our history, the nation, our men and women in uniform, and General Pace himself would not be well-served by a divisive ordeal in selecting the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff." Gates referred to Pace as a friend and praised his service as a Marine.


Misshipments of nuclear weapons

On June 5, 2008, in response to the findings on Air Force misshipments of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons components, Gates announced the resignations of Secretary of the Air Force
Michael Wynne Michael Walter Wynne (born September 4, 1944) is an American politician and business executive and was the 21st United States Secretary of the Air Force. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates asked for and received his resignation (and that of Chief ...
and Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley. Gates would later write that the USAF was "one of my biggest headaches" during his time in the office.


Obama Administration

On December 1, 2008, President-elect Obama announced that Robert Gates would remain in his position as Secretary of Defense during his administration, reportedly for at least the first year of Obama's presidency. Gates was the fourteenth Cabinet member in history to serve under two presidents of different parties, and the first to do so as Secretary of Defense. One of the first priorities under President Barack Obama's administration for Gates was a review of U.S. policy and strategy in Afghanistan. Gates, sixth in the presidential line of succession, was selected as
designated survivor In the United States, a designated survivor (or designated successor) is a named individual in the presidential line of succession, chosen to stay at an undisclosed secure location, away from events such as State of the Union addresses and pres ...
during Obama's inauguration. On March 1, 2009, he told David Gregory on '' Meet the Press'' that he would not commit to how long he would serve as Secretary of Defense but implied that he would not serve the entire first term. While Gates continued the troop withdrawals in Iraq, which already had begun in the Bush administration, he also implemented a rapid, limited surge of troops in Afghanistan in 2009. Robert Gates removed General
David D. McKiernan David D. McKiernan (born December 11, 1950) is a retired United States Army four-star general who served in Afghanistan as Commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). He served concurrently as Commander, United States Forces – Afg ...
from command in Afghanistan on May 6, 2009 and replaced him with General
Stanley A. McChrystal Stanley Allen McChrystal (born August 14, 1954) is a retired United States Army general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 where his organization was credited with the death of Abu Musab al-Zarq ...
. The ''Washington Post'' called it "a rare decision to remove a wartime commander". The ''Washington Post'' described the replacement as one of several replacements of generals who represented the "traditional Army" with generals "who have pressed for the use of counter-insurgency tactics". In December 2009, Gates visited Afghanistan following President Barack Obama's announcement of the deployment of 30,000 additional personnel against the Taliban insurgency, a policy that did not ultimately stem the Taliban's later return to power in 2021. ''Time'' magazine notes that Gates and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have "forged a formidable partnership", speaking frequently, "comparing notes before they go to the White House", meeting with each other weekly and having lunch once a month at either the Pentagon or the State Department. In a March 2010 speech to a NATO conference in Washington, Secretary Gates said that "The demilitarization of Europe—where large swaths of the general public and political class are averse to military force and the risks that go with it—has gone from a blessing in the 20th century to an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21st". Gates announced in February 2010 that the department would lift its ban on women serving on
submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s. Gates also prepared the armed forces for the repeal of the don't ask, don't tell policy. Since the repeal in 2010, homosexuals are able to serve in the military openly. In service of that goal, he announced in late March 2010 the approval of new regulations that would make it more difficult to kick gays out of the military. Gates called the guideline changes, which went into effect immediately, a matter of "common sense and common decency" that would be "an important improvement" allowing the Pentagon to apply current law in "a fairer and more appropriate" manner. The Pentagon's legal counsel, Jeh Johnson, said the new regulations are by no means a moratorium on the current law and stressed that cases would move forward under the new standards. In August 2010, speaking to ''
Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
'' magazine Secretary Gates said that he would remain as Secretary of Defense until 2011 and then retire. "I think that it would be a mistake to wait until January 2012," he said. "This is not the kind of job you want to fill in the spring of an election year." In March 2011, Gates directed the role of the United States armed forces in the
2011 military intervention in Libya On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya, to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, in response to events during the First Libyan Civil War. With ten votes in favour and five ...
. While aboard a military aircraft on March 20, 2011, Gates told the press that "military forces are just one way to bring stability to Libya". Gates was photographed in the White House Situation Room photograph taken on May 1, 2011, by
Pete Souza Peter Joseph Souza (born December 31, 1954) is an American photojournalist, the former Chief Official White House Photographer for Presidents of the United States Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama and the former director of the White House Photogra ...
during the raid that killed
Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
terrorist organization leader
Osama Bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
. Gates officially retired as Secretary of Defense on July 1, 2011, and was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Obama during his retirement ceremony.


Fiscal restraint

Gates' tenure with the Obama administration included a huge shift in military spending. In April 2009, Gates proposed a large shift in budget priorities in the U.S. Department of Defense 2010 budget. The budget cuts included many programs geared toward conventional warfare, such as the end of new orders of the F-22 Raptor, and further development of Future Combat Systems manned vehicles. However, these cuts were counterbalanced by increases in funding for programs like the
special forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
. "Gates Announces Major Pentagon Priority Shifts."
''CNN'', April 9, 2009. Retrieved: April 14, 2009.
Gates called this the "nation's first truly 21st century defense budget". In late April 2010, he suggested the Navy cease funding development of a new multibillion-dollar ballistic missile submarine program on the grounds of cost and relevancy. He suggested the hundreds of billions of dollars would be better spent on a new generation of vessels tailored to the threats and tactics more likely to be faced, noting, "Mark my words, the Navy and Marine Corps must be willing to re-examine and question basic assumptions in light of evolving technologies, new threats and budget realities." In a speech made on May 8, 2010, Gates stated that he would make politically unpopular cuts to the Pentagon bureaucracy in his future budgets. It was announced in August 2010 that Gates was trying to find $100 billion in Defense savings through to 2015, in order to instill a "culture of savings and restraint" in the military. Secretary Gates said that "It is important that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past, where tough economic times or the winding down of a military campaign leads to steep and unwise reductions in defense". Gates said "As a matter of principle and political reality, the Department of Defense cannot expect America's elected representatives to approve budget increases each year unless we are doing a good job, indeed everything possible, to make every dollar count". These cuts included the closing of the
Joint Forces Command The United Kingdom's Strategic Command (StratCom), previously known as Joint Forces Command (JFC), manages allocated joint capabilities from the three armed services. History Background In August 2010 the then Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, as ...
, the redundancy of fifty general and admirals, and the removal of 150 senior civilian positions.


NATO comments

On January 16, 2008, Gates was quoted in the '' Los Angeles Times'' as saying NATO forces in southern Afghanistan do not know how to properly combat a guerrilla insurgency and that could be contributing to rising violence in the country. The Netherlands and United Kingdom protested. In a June 10, 2011 speech in Brussels, before NATO, Gates again stated that other NATO members must do more as the United States tackles its budget deficit. He said bluntly that
In the past, I've worried openly about NATO turning into a two-tiered alliance: Between members who specialize in "soft" humanitarian, development, peacekeeping and talking tasks, and those conducting the "hard" combat missions. Between those willing and able to pay the price and bear the burdens of alliance commitments, and those who enjoy the benefits of NATO membership—be they security guarantees or headquarters billets—but don't want to share the risks and the costs. This is no longer a hypothetical worry. We are there today. And it is unacceptable. The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress—and in the American body politic writ large—to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense. Nations apparently willing and eager for American taxpayers to assume the growing security burden left by reductions in European defense budgets. Indeed, if current trends in the decline of European defense capabilities are not halted and reversed, future U.S. political leaders—those for whom the Cold War was not the formative experience that it was for me—may not consider the return on America's investment in NATO worth the cost.


Post-Obama administration

Gates is a Principal, along with
Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...
,
Stephen Hadley Stephen John Hadley (born February 13, 1947) is an American attorney and senior government official who served as the 20th United States National Security Advisor from 2005 to 2009. He served under President George W. Bush during the second term ...
and Anja Manuel, in RiceHadleyGates LLC, a strategic consulting firm. On September 6, 2011, it was announced that Gates had accepted the position of chancellor at the College of William & Mary, succeeding
Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...
. He took the office of the chancellor on February 3, 2012. On May 2, 2012, Starbucks Corporation announced that Gates had been elected to the Starbucks board of directors. He will serve on the board's nominating and corporate governance committee. On October 30, 2013, the Boy Scouts of America announced that Gates had been elected to the National executive board. While on this board, he will serve as the national president-elect. In May 2014, he began a two-year-long term as the BSA national president. Randall Stephenson, chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T Inc. serves under Gates as the president-elect. Gates has succeeded Wayne Perry as the national president. On May 21, 2015, Gates stated that the "status quo
an on gay adult leaders An, AN, aN, or an may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Airlinair (IATA airline code AN) * Alleanza Nazionale, a former political party in Italy * AnimeNEXT, an annual anime convention located in New Jersey * Anime North, a Canadian a ...
in
he BSA He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
movement's membership standards cannot be sustained" and that he would no longer seek to revoke the charters of scout units that accept gay adult leaders. In his memoir, ''Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War'', Gates alternately criticized and praised Obama's military leadership, writing, "I never doubted issupport for the troops, only his support for their mission
n Afghanistan N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
, and "I was very proud to work for a president who had made one of the most courageous decisions I had ever witnessed in the White House
y authorizing the raid against Osama bin Laden Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or seventh ...
" In the wake of the annexation of Crimea in March 2014, Gates wrote an
op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...
piece on Vladimir Putin, Russian expansionism, the nascent sanctions regime, the US military budget, and the need for bold leadership. Gates, along with former Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...
and other Republican former foreign policy officials, recommended to incoming president Donald Trump that
Exxon ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
CEO Rex Tillerson be considered for the Trump Administration as Secretary of State. In September 2018, Gates was re-appointed to serve a second seven-year term as chancellor at the College of William & Mary. Gates also serves as an honorary director on the board of directors at the
Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...
. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates participated as a member of the National Advisory Council for the
COVID Collaborative Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
.


Criticism

As deputy director and director of America's leading intelligence agency for many years, Gates and his CIA staff have been faulted for failing to accurately gauge the decline and disintegration of the Soviet Union. More particularly, Gates has been criticized for allegedly concocting evidence to show that the Soviet Union was stronger than it actually was.
George Shultz George Pratt Shultz (; December 13, 1920February 6, 2021) was an American economist, businessman, diplomat and statesman. He served in various positions under two different Republican presidents and is one of the only two persons to have held fou ...
said that, while Secretary of State from 1982 to 1989, he felt the CIA under Gates was trying to "manipulate" him, that the agency was "a big powerful machine not under good control. I distrust what comes out of it." Shultz personally convinced Reagan that the U.S. should soften her stance towards the USSR after Gorbachev came to power in 1985; Shultz told Gates at the time that his CIA was "usually wrong" about the Soviet Union, having dismissed Gorbachev's policies as "just another Soviet attempt to deceive us." In 1991,
Stansfield Turner Stansfield Turner (December 1, 1923 January 18, 2018) was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as President of the Naval War College (1972–1974), commander of the United States Second Fleet (1974–1975), Supreme Allied Commander N ...
, former Director of Central Intelligence, described the "enormity of this failure to forecast the magnitude of the Soviet crisis. ... I never heard a suggestion from the CIA ... that numerous Soviets recognized a growing systemic economic problem." Turner said this failure was a consequence of deliberate distortion by those in the upper echelon of the CIA who were helping to sell the Reagan administration's defense buildup, a view backed by former CIA analyst
Melvin Goodman Melvin Allan "Mel" Goodman is a national security and intelligence expert. He has worked as an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the State Department, taught at the National War College and Johns Hopkins University, and is a s ...
at Gates' 1991 confirmation hearings: " illiamCasey seized on every opportunity to exaggerate the Soviet threat ... hileGates' role in this activity was to corrupt the process and the ethics of intelligence." Reviewing the third installment of Gates' memoirs in 2016, Goodman said, "In my 24 years at the CIA, there was never the kind of toxic atmosphere that existed when Gates served as deputy director for intelligence, deputy director of CIA, and finally director of CIA." Also, according to ''Newsweek'', Gates, as deputy director of CIA, allegedly vouched for the comprehensiveness of a CIA study presented to the Senate and President Reagan alleging that the Soviet Union played a role in the 1981 shooting of Pope John Paul II. A CIA internal review later denounced the report as being skewed, but that Gates did not try to influence the report's conclusions. Shortly after his retirement from his tenure as Defense Secretary in summer 2011, during a meeting of the
National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...
Principals Committee, Gates highlighted many of the measures taken by the U.S. to advance Israel's security during the Obama Administration, including providing access to state of the art weaponry, assisting with the development of missile-defense systems, and sharing high-level intelligence, before expressing his view that the U.S. has received nothing in return from the Israeli government with regards to the peace process. According to senior U.S. administration sources, other officials present offered no rebuttal to Gates' analysis. This was not the first time Gates publicly expressed frustration with the Netanyahu government, with which he had worked hard to provide wide-scale and deep military cooperation. The Likud party of Israel responded to Gates' description of Benjamin Netanyahu as a danger to Israel's future by claiming that most Israelis support the prime minister.


Awards and decorations

Gates' awards and decorations include: ;Government awards * Presidential Medal of Freedom *
Presidential Citizens Medal The Presidential Citizens Medal is an award bestowed by the President of the United States. It is the second-highest civilian award in the United States and is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Established by executive order on Nov ...
*
National Security Medal The National Security Medal is a decoration of the United States of America officially established by President Harry S. Truman in Executive Order 10431 of January 19, 1953. The medal was originally awarded to any person, without regard to natio ...
* National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal (2 awards) *
Distinguished Intelligence Medal The Distinguished Intelligence Medal is awarded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for performance of outstanding services or for achievement of a distinctly exceptional nature in a duty or responsibility. Recipients This list includes only ...
(3 awards) ;Other awards * Liberty Medal (2011) *
Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...
* Distinguished Eagle Scout Award * Silver Buffalo Award *
Vigil Honor It is important to distinguish between ''awards,'' ''honors,'' and ''membership levels'' in the Order of the Arrow – the honor camping society of the Boy Scouts of America. The Founder's Award, the Red Arrow Award, and the Distinguished Serv ...
, Order of the Arrow * Distinguished Service Award (DSA), Order of the Arrow, August 4, 2015 * Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from
Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...
* Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from College of William and Mary * Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Georgetown University * Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Indiana University * Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from The University of Oklahoma * Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Yale University * Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Notre Dame * Honorary Doctorate of Public Administration from The University of South Carolina * College of William and Mary –
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award is an award presented to graduating seniors, alumni, and faculty of selected colleges and universities in the Southern United States for excellence of character and service to humanity. The awards stem from the ...
* College of William and Mary Alumni Association – Alumni Medallion *
Corps of Cadets A corps of cadets, also called cadet corps, was originally a kind of military school for boys. Initially such schools admitted only sons of the nobility or gentry, but in time many of the schools were opened also to members of other social classes. ...
Hall of Honor (First and only Non-Corps Honoree) – Texas A&M University *
Arthur S. Flemming Award The Arthur S. Flemming Award is an award given annually to employees of the United States federal government. More than 500 individuals have received the award since it was created in 1948. The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Admini ...
of 1978 * Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1992)
George Bush Award (2007)
– George Bush Presidential Library Foundation *
Aviation Week & Space Technology ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aerospace, defense and aviati ...
Magazine: Person of the Year 2008 * MTV University Man of the Year 2010 * ''
Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
s list of top global thinkers for "being America's last bipartisan figure" * Sylvanus Thayer Award (United States Military Academy) * Robert C. Vance Distinguished Lecturer, Central Connecticut State University, 2011 * Order of Bahrain, 1st Degree * Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, 2017


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * *


Bibliography

* Robert Gates, ''From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War''. Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (1997). * Robert Gates, '' Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War''. Alfred A. Knopf (2014). * Robert Gates, ''A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service'' (2016). * Robert Gates, ''Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World''. Alfred A. Knopf (2020)


Further reading

* Paul Burka,
Agent of Change
, ''Texas Monthly'' (November 2006) * Robert Gates,

', 1999, CIA * Robert Gates,

', 2001, PBS.org * Robert Gates, '' ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081207080906/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20090101faessay88103-p0/robert-m-gates/a-balanced-strategy.html A Balanced Strategy: Reprogramming the Pentagon for a New Age', ''Foreign Affairs'' (January/February 2009)


External links


Biography
at the United States Department of Defense * Robert Gates
The ABC's of Spying
* Robert Gates


DefenseLink Biography: Robert M. Gates

Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense Nominee: A Bibliography
at Georgetown University Law Library
Ubben Lecture at DePauw University
* * * * * by Leon Charney on The Leon Charney Report. Robert Gates discusses his book "From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War." October 13, 1996. * Gates on relations with China
Nov. 2007 visitJune 1, 2007

The Reinvention of Robert Gates
by Michael Crowley, ''The New Republic'', November 9, 2009
Interview with Charlie Rose
Robert Gates, former secretary of defense discusses his book "DUTY: Memoirs of a Secretary at War." January 14, 2014. * , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gates, Robert 1943 births 21st-century American politicians American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American memoirists American political writers Atlantic Council Chancellors of the College of William & Mary College of William & Mary alumni Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency Directors of Starbucks Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni George W. Bush administration cabinet members Indiana University alumni Iran–Contra affair Obama administration cabinet members Living people Military personnel from Kansas National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America members Politicians from Wichita, Kansas Presidential Citizens Medal recipients Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Presidents of Texas A&M University Recipients of the Distinguished Intelligence Medal Recipients of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal United States Air Force officers United States Secretaries of Defense Virginia Republicans Writers from Wichita, Kansas Presidents of the Boy Scouts of America United States Deputy National Security Advisors