Pragmatic Style Makes Gates White House Heavyweight

A look back at the retiring defense secretary's career

(NEWSER) - With Robert Gates, who has served eight presidents over four decades, about to retire, the Washington Post looks back at how Gates operated in the Pentagon. He’s been “careful, conservative, and consensus-oriented,” writes Greg Jaffe, and he’s “earned a reputation as the most ruthlessly efficient defense secretary in decades.” So what can we learn from his tenure?

• Buy time. Defense Department reviews following troop surges in Iraq and Afghanistan gave Presidents Bush and Obama a sense of the military’s trajectory—and they bought time against critics calling for quick drawdowns.

Strategy deploys more missiles 6 years earlier than under Bush plan

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration is upgrading missile defense plans in Europe, not abandoning them, writes Robert Gates, the author of the Bush-era plans recently scrapped, in a New York Times op-ed. The previous plan would not have installed the proposed 10 long-range interceptors in Central Europe until at least 2017, while the first phase of the new plan will deploy scores of sea-based short- and mid-range SM-3 missiles as early as 2011—sensible, considering short- and mid-range missiles are what Iran has now. More»

Defense sec says US has months before support wanes

(NEWSER) - The Taliban have the momentum in the war in Afghanistan and the US is rapidly losing time to turn it around before public support runs out, Robert Gates tells the Wall Street Journal. The defense secretary said in an interview that American support for the war will recede unless the Obama administration can beat back the insurgency within the coming months. "If they think we're stalemated," Gates said, "then patience is going to run out pretty fast." More»

Defense secretary earns Obama's trust on Afghanistan-Pakistan

(NEWSER) - In 2008, under another president, Robert Gates spent 115 days traveling to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and 23 other countries. But this year, writes the New York Times, the defense secretary has been spending much more time in Washington. Gates, the only holdover from the Bush Cabinet, has slowly secured a key role under Barack Obama, the eighth president he has served. More»

Gates keeps appointees on board until they are replaced

(NEWSER) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates has taken the unusual step of inviting most of President Bush's political appointees to remain at the Pentagon until they are replaced, the Washington Times reports. An undisclosed number will be dismissed, but Gates, keen to avoid a "leadership vacuum" with two wars on, wants to keep the majority of some 250 appointees in place. More»