Robert Gates: Obama's Defense Secretary

***Check back for updates. For the latest on President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet picks, check out HuffPost's Obama Cabinet Big News Page***

***Update 12/1, 11 AM***

At a news conference today, Obama introduced his picks of retired Marine Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser, former Justice Department official Eric Holder as attorney general, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security, Susan Rice as UN Ambassador, Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense

Read more here.

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The New York Times reports that some Obama advisers are concerned by the decision to keep Gates at Defense:

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 H. 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.

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Update, 11/25 7:05PM
The Associated Press says it's official:

Retaining Gates provides stability for a stretched military fighting two wars during the turbulent changeover in administrations. Gates once said it was inconceivable that he would stay on past the close of Bush's term on Jan. 20.

But the 65-year-old former spymaster had recently turned mum in public on the circumstances under which he would stay, even briefly, in an Obama administration.

Update, 11/25 7PM
Fox News reports:

There was very strong support for Gates among Democrats, said one Democratic source in the Senate whose boss was intimately involved in bringing Obama and Gates together to see if they were compatible...

Gates will continue to preside over two U.S. wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, that Bush launched as part of the larger war on terror.

Update, 11/25 5PM

Politico now reports that Gates has agreed to stay on as defense secretary into President-elect Barack Obama's first term. They also report that the news will be announced early next week along with other national security nominations, including the pick of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

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Update, 11/25 4PM

ABC now reports that the Gates selection is "a done deal":

Gates, while a registered independent, has served numerous Republican administrations. President George W. Bush nominated Gates to replace the Donald Rumsfeld after the 2006 midterm elections, when the war in Iraq was spiraling out of control.

The former Eagle Scout is expected to be rolled out immediately after the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend as part of a larger national security team expected to include Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, as Secretary of State; Marine Gen. Jim Jones (Ret.) as National Security Adviser; Admiral Dennis Blair (Ret.) as Director of National Intelligence; and Dr. Susan Rice as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

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The Washington Post reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Barack Obama's transition team are meeting Thursday:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is scheduled to meet Thursday with President-elect Barack Obama's Pentagon agency review transition team leaders, John White and Michele Flournoy, a Pentagon spokesman said today. The team began working at the Pentagon on Monday.

"We are totally committed to ensuring the transition of leadership in this department is as smooth and seamless as can be. The troops on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve it and our nation's security demands it," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell at a press briefing.

The Financial Times today reports that Obama is in talks with current Defense Secretary Robert Gates about keeping his position beyond President Bush's tenure.

Mr Obama, through an intermediary, has approached Mr Gates, who has served as defence secretary under President George W. Bush since 2006, about accepting the position, which would place a respected Republican appointee in his cabinet.

According to a source familiar with the situation, Mr Gates is seriously weighing the option. The two men are ironing out policy and personnel issues before a final offer could be made.

During this critical point in the US' transfer of military power to Iraq, most pundits think that keeping Gates would be a shrewd move on Obama's part, and Gates has said that he's prepared to stay in his position if the president-elect asks him. Bloomberg reported earlier that the odds of Obama keeping Gates at defense were much better with his reported selection of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

Robert Gates was recently praised by US News And World Report as one of America's best leaders. The article praised Gates' recognition of the "soft power" of America's military.

In the speech, Gates told officers that in 42 years of service, he had learned two big things: a sense of humility and an appreciation of limits. "Not every outrage, every act of aggression, every crisis can or should elicit an American military response," he said, advising them to "be modest about what military force can accomplish and what technology can accomplish."

High-tech "transformation" was a Rumsfeld hallmark. Gates's goal is "exactly the opposite," says Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Less capital intensive, more labor intensive, with an emphasis on patience and lots and lots of close contact with civilians." It is a remarkable repudiation of Rumsfeld's rather disdainful "We don't do nation-building" remark as Iraq was falling apart after the 2003 U.S. invasion.

Time Magazine recently discussed the pros and cons of keeping Robert Gates at Defense. A few pros:

Keeping Gates as the Defense Secretary would allow him to continue his push to focus the military's efforts on insurgencies of the type it's facing in Iraq and Afghanistan, rather than on the hypothetical conventional wars for which it would prefer to plan -- and for which it continues to order up costly weapons. (But continuity would also keep Pentagon spending, already at World War II levels, climbing into the stratosphere on autopilot.)

Keeping Gates would allow Obama to demonstrate bipartisanship in national security, an area particularly dear to Republicans. (But it might also be taken as a sign that the Democratic bench on military matters is so weak the party has to rely on a holdover from a GOP Administration.)

Robert Gates was also listed on the Time 100 this year.

Biography

Robert Gates has an extensive biography at the Pentagon's website:

Prior to assuming the presidency of Texas A&M on August 1, 2002, he served as Interim Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M from 1999 to 2001.

Secretary Gates served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991 until 1993. Secretary Gates is the only career officer in CIA's history to rise from entry-level employee to Director. He served as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from 1986 until 1989 and as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser at the White House from January 20, 1989, until November 6, 1991, for President George H.W. Bush.

Comments

[VivaZapata]

Choosing Bush's defense secretary, rightly or wrongly, sends a message to the rest of the world that our foreign policy will remain the same. The rest of the world will not see any nuanced differences that some of the people on these pages have proclaimed. People voted for Obama with the expectations of a complete break from the Bushonians, no matter how an individual performed. Hedging speaks directly and correctly to Ralph Nadar's criticism of the one and a half party system.

[XME]

To the contrary, wimpy would be replacing Gates JUST because he's not a Dem...you know, as opposed to because he was doing a lousy job.

Obama doesn't need to mess with things that are working...there's MORE than enough broken things for him to worry about!

[Alex02139]

How is Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, working? Keeping Gates is cynical politics. Progressives should not sell out in Utah-style blindly follow the leader.

[XME]

For me the test will be how it goes under Obama's leadership, REGARDLESS of whether he keeps Gates. Obama will set the agenda for Gates...just as Bush has miserably set it.

[bluemike]

Picking H. Clinton and Gates fellow are asinine decisions.

[LiberalDemIda]

Agreed. Based on their pasts, both seem only out for own gain. I don't know why Pres.-elect Obama won't choose soon-to-be-ex-Senator Hagel as SoS. I'd trust him before I trust Gates because of what Gates did during the Carter Administration and for which only Carter was blamed.

[SethBLiNK]

"But it also stirred a debate inside Mr. Obama's circles, where some advisers worried that the decision to turn to a Republican appointee -- 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."

If this person is an "advisor inside Mr. Obama's circles" why is he referring to the people doing this as "them?"

I think anybody really inside knows that "they" are non-wimpy not to care if other people think "they" are wimpy. This is a non-story.

[DaCoach]

Let me get this right. One "unnamed" adviser mentioned that the Obama camp might be considered "wimpy" by choosing Gates. So you make that the headline. Please, one National Enquirer is quite enough. I'd suggest that wimpy might refer to someone who throws out remarks but isn't unwimpy enough to attribute them to himself.

[barackobama4prez]

well do you want to look like a wimp or get attacked because the transition was breached?

[Troubledwawa]

I think keeping Gates is a wise move.

In addition to the obvious that he is the most familiar with the situation of our troops being in two war zones, Gates is not a big fan of the big ticket items like Rumsfeld and Chenney were - The new air tanker, air craft cariiers, etc.

Gates also see's the focus of the war on terror should be in Afghanistan, like Obama, and unlike the current Commander in Chief (s?).

I say give Gates another shot. He didn't have the brightest above him, afterall.

[dphilip]

Yes, we want a Sec. of Defense who is anti-war.

[larazon]

If Brennan had not been pressured by liberal groups to refuse the position of C-IA Director, PEO would have kept him on the job, when this man has been at the job while t-orture and other crimes violating human rights were committed. He has b-lood on his hands.

Gates and Hillary must also be rejected vigorously. Gates should fill in only for a few months until the new Secy is up to speed. Maximum of 6 months, but new Secy of Defense should be anounced in December latest. He should pick Jack Reed or Chuck Hagel, who is against t0rture and has been very vocal in his opposition to the war, despite his previous vote, unlike Gates. He also expressed regret for that vote, unlike Hillary.

Obama made a mistake choosing Hillary. He should have chosen Bill Richardson or Susan Rice. Now that he anounced Richardson for Commerce he should put Rice in State and Power U.N. Ambassador. Richard Clark for C-IA Director.

[WilliePilgrim]

D'oh!

[Ramirez]

U.S. history trivia for the day:

Henry Lewis Stimson, Secretary of War throughout World War Two under Democrat Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, was a Republican.

http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/031218.html

[bholl]

Keep the Bush family hired help?
Well, I guess it could be worse.

[holeybuybull]

No one associated with the CIA should have a position of responsibility in the US govt.
The same applies to those with dual citizenship. Their loyalties are questionable and they should be purged.

[larazon]

Absolutely right.

[Rule Of Law]

Agreed. Just look at what he did to Carter while in the CIA during the Hostage Crisis. He should be in Leavenworth!

[Ramirez]

The "dual citizenship" meme is a bunch of hooey.

[larazon]

Not if it's someone like Lieberman who owes allegiance to the star of David.

[Rule Of Law]

Obama continues to fill his cabinet with the very people who have brought ruin upon this country. Rubin, at Citi--now floundering, is and example of the free market thinking that led to deregulation under Clinton that led directly to this point. Bush would nevere have been able to destroy our economy and our reputation without the repeal of FDR's protections.

To suggest that Obama will be able to bend these people to his considerable will, is just wishful thinking. The myriad of articles appearing Tuesday that shed new light on Geithner, Summers, and Rubins hand in our current crisis are just the first. Add to that the info coming to light regarding Obama's pick of Gates as Sec Def and his history of going against his own president--Carter in the Iran hostage crisis--in addition to his role in the Irangate guns for diplomacy scandal etc and we see a pattern emerging of not a team of rivals, but a team of self serving gunslingers whose only loyalties are to their own advancement and the paycheck that Wall Street offers them when they return to it.

[libladyohio]

My feelings exactly and I took heat on these points earlier on in this thread. I think we should have a democratic Secretary of Defense for a change.

On the economy I have no idea why he's picking so many people who helped mightily to get us in this mess in the first place. Why not rely more on people like Paul Krugman?

Obama (aware of the heat from the left) says now that we should not fret, the change will come from him, not these people. I hope he delivers but there are some signs early that we could be taken down the primrose path again.

[truthglow]

Who can now believe him?

[bitterindependent]

shrewd political move and as he appoints more moderate (not radical) republicans in his cabinet....it will make it harder for fanatics in the republican party to criticizes his administration on some key issues (they will still try tho).....

[larazon]

So instead of Gates why not choose Hagel who is very vocal against the war.

[polaris12]

There is no way to placate fanatics of any ilk.

[truthglow]

I agree. Any one who feels secure within himself, would not worry about what "they" say.