Gates May Remain As Defense Secretary

Obama Appears Likely To Keep Gates On For About A Year

(CBS/AP)  Seeking experience in a time of war, President-elect Barack Obama appears likely to keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates in that job - if only temporarily.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that a decision is close to keep Gates and may not be final until Mr. Obama and Gates have a face-to-face meeting.

Mr. Obama, who rolled out the key components of his economic team this week, plans to announce his foreign policy braintrust after the Thanksgiving holiday.

A Democratic official also told the Associated Press that retired Gen. James Jones was Mr. Obama's pick to head the National Security Council, the part of the White House structure that deals with foreign policy.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Mr. Obama has not authorized anybody to discuss the deliberations.

Gates, a moderate with long-standing ties to Republican administrations and the Bush family, would fulfill an Obama pledge to include a Republican in his Cabinet.

Gates and Jones bring years of experience to the Cabinet of a 47-year-old commander in chief with a relatively thin foreign policy resume.

"This is good for Obama becuase it lets him say that he has a Republican in his Cabinet, and also gives him instant credibility with the military," Politico's chief correspondent Mike Allen told CBS Radio News.

"Gates tells us he's excited about being able to finish some of what he started and to wind down in Iraq in a way that's consistent with how they've been running the surge," added Allen.

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 Mr. 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.

Keeping Gates might afford Mr. Obama a sort of extended transition, in which critical military issues are left in trusted hands while Mr. Obama focuses most intensely on the financial crisis.

This is the first wartime presidential transition since 1968, when the Vietnam War was under way, and there is extra concern about security vulnerabilities during this handover.

Gates has run the department since December 2006, reluctantly giving up his post as president of Texas A&M University to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld when the Iraq war seemed to be failing.

He has gained a reputation as a steady pragmatist, but Gates' resume as a government policymaker is not untarnished.

During his 1991 confirmation hearings to be CIA director, Gates was criticized for missing clues about the impending fall of the Soviet Union and for politicizing Cold War intelligence. Those two complaints - misreading intelligence and using it selectively - have also dogged the Mr. Bush administration in its Iraq policy.

But supporters see Gates as a seasoned policymaker who climbed the CIA bureaucracy from an entry-level position to become director under President George H.W. Bush. He also served on his National Security Council, as he had for Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Mr. Bush noted that Gates helped lead U.S. efforts to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan in the 1980s while at the CIA and was deputy national security adviser during Operation Desert Storm, the first U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

He was part of the 2006 Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel led by former Secretary of State James Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton that was asked to help chart a new course in the flagging war.

A native of Kansas, Gates joined the CIA in 1966. By 1987, he became acting CIA director when William Casey was terminally ill with cancer.

Questions were raised about Gates' knowledge of the Iran-Contra arms and money affair, and he withdrew from consideration to take over the CIA permanently. Yet he stayed on as deputy director.

Then-national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, who has been a critic of the younger Bush's policies, asked Gates to be his deputy in 1989 during the administration of Mr. Bush's father. The elder President Bush asked Gates to run the CIA two years later.
Gates won confirmation, but only after hearings in which he was accused by CIA officials of manipulating intelligence as a senior analyst in the 1980s.

Melvin Goodman, a former CIA division chief for Soviet affairs, testified that Gates politicized the intelligence on Iran, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and the Soviet Union.

Gates took a much lower profile when he left the CIA and the government in 1993. He joined corporate boards and wrote a memoir, "From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War."

Gates is a close friend of the Bush family. He was interim dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M and became the university's president in 2002. The school is home to the elder Bush's presidential library.

[notblue]

McVEt, your dumbassspost post ignores the fact that you and your kind were the ones "who did not get along or want to compromise when Bush was the president. Can''t you see the utter hipocracy of your post! I am just reminding of what Obam ran on, a platform of change, go ahhead and expalin how his choice represents change. you people were nothing but critical remember?

[irmcvet97]

More of that promised change? LOL!, looking back at Obama''''s and the Dems endless critisism of the American mission in the middle east in the run up to the election one would have thought this guy would have been one of the first to go. Guess that was just rhetoric for the 67 percenters and now that election is over reality can once again be the determiner.

Posted by notblue at 09:40 AM : Nov 26, 2008

So in your VERY small mind Obama can''t change the course of this nation and it''s goals because he chooses to reach across the isle and keep the guy in charge now? YOU think Hillary Clinton will NOT be a MUCH better secretary of state and MOVE this nation away for the Bush Doctrine. My advice to you simple minded LOSERS is sit back and WATCH!! LOL You people DO NOT want to get along, you do NOT want to compromise.. YOU only want to ridicule and tear down someone who is OBVIOUSLY reaching out to you. Disgusting bunch of traitors...ALL of you!!

[irmcvet97]

your life won''''t change one bit

Posted by jamesm12341 at 10:03 AM : Nov 26, 2008

Yeah we know! Why would the average Joe even think they could have a better life. Superior people like YOU always know it will never be. LOL God you are so full of yourself... a LIAR but full of yourself anyway. If seeing HISTORY made and a NEW Exciting Leader take control of our Government isn''t improvement what is? And that''s before he''s even taken the Oath!! Suck it up Sparky, YOUR life is going to change and THAT''s for sure!!

[mecury69]

Last night on Hannity and Colmes, Sean was so upset that his own right wing guest had to ''applaud'' Obama''s decisions in his cabinet. He was really flustered.

I watched Larry King earlier who had the typical split panel of 4 guest (2 conservative, 2 liberal) and they all agreed with Obama''s choices. They were even laughing that two of the guests had never agreed on anything before. It was hilarious.

Obama actually has both sides applauding his appointments and is showing his leadership and administrating abilities are truly special and extraordinary as shown in the election campaign.

We need more Community Organizer''s in the congress.

[hatesthecolt]

your life won''''t change one bit

Posted by jamesm12341

Moron, listen to what I am telling you: I work for a federal agency as does my spouse as do 80% of my friends and our lives are already changing.

[hatesthecolt]

I posted weeks before the election that the libs lives would not change one bit if Obama was elected.

Posted by jamesm12341

You guys are so lame. Either the world is going to crash and burn or nothing will happen. Actually nothing CAN happen yet; Obama still hasn''t been sworn in. But if you think things are going to be like they have been, think again. There''s already a change being felt inside the federal agencies. Right now it''s uncertainty about the "what" but certainty that something will happen. And it''s about time.

[notblue]

More of that promised change? LOL!, looking back at Obama''s and the Dems endless critisism of the American mission in the middle east in the run up to the election one would have thought this guy would have been one of the first to go. Guess that was just rhetoric for the 67 percenters and now that election is over reality can once again be the determiner.

[perceptions5]

Bush is twice the man Obama ever will be.
Posted by mr22587 at 09:16 AM

Well, Bush has started twice as many wars....


Posted by earache4

-===========================

Yep and BOTH approved by Democrats in Congress.

And Obama will continue both wars even though Iraq has been pretty won by now. Hopefully Obama doesn''t screw that up.............

[hatesthecolt]

The far left wackos arent happy with this...but what can they do...their guy won the election, but he doesnt care about their opinions... LOL See you should have voted for McCain at least you could protest him. I guess you nut jobs will just have to live with Obama and sulk around quietly.

Posted by dante805

As a proud farleft nutjob, I applaud the national security appointments and even keeping Gates on temporarily. My spouse worked for GEN Jones; he''s a smart, experienced, reasonable guy who is interested in national security NOT POLITICS or scaring the public to death. (Well isn''t THAT a refreshing idea after this last administration). As for Gates, reforming the Pentagon can wait; it''s the Economy stupidheads! Gates can be a good placeholder until Obama can turn his attention there.

[earache4]

Obama is finding out that Bush has things under control.
Posted by mr22587 at 09:12 AM

$11 Trillion debt? Control? I wonder what Shrub''s personal checking account looks like....

[earache4]

Bush is twice the man Obama ever will be.
Posted by mr22587 at 09:16 AM

Well, Bush has started twice as many wars....

[perceptions5]

I say this selection of Bush''''s Secretary of Defense, Gates,is a ringing endorsement of Bush''''s War on Terrorism.
What say you liberal Bush haters?
Posted by perceptions5 at 08:52 AM

That''''s the best you can come up with on your own? Maybe you should go back to plagiarizing....

Posted by earache4
=======================================

Sorry but don''t you have me mixed up with Obama and Biden..........the true plagliarizing duo?

[dante805]

The far left wackos arent happy with this...but what can they do...their guy won the election, but he doesnt care about their opinions... LOL See you should have voted for McCain at least you could protest him. I guess you nut jobs will just have to live with Obama and sulk around quietly.

[biblethumpar]

an Excellent move considering the mess we find ourselves in,
God Bless Mr Obama.

[earache4]

good moves
Posted by tomar0317 at 09:00 AM

Yeah I hear exlax has some good moves too....

[tomar0317]

good moves

[earache4]

I say this selection of Bush''s Secretary of Defense, Gates,is a ringing endorsement of Bush''s War on Terrorism.
What say you liberal Bush haters?
Posted by perceptions5 at 08:52 AM

That''s the best you can come up with on your own? Maybe you should go back to plagiarizing....

[perceptions5]

I say this selection of Bush''s Secretary of Defense, Gates,is a ringing endorsement of Bush''''s War on Terrorism.

What say you liberal Bush haters?

[earache4]

Posted by perceptions5 at 08:29 AM

Neato, now, can you think of something on your own? Use that puss filled lump on top of your shoulders.

[perceptions5]

Democrats, Americans live in a world that has walls and those walls need to be guarded by republicans with guns. Who''s gonna do it? You, Biden? You, Nancy Pelosi?, You, Harry Reid, President elect Obama?

Republicans have a greater responsibility than democrats can possibly fathom. Democrats weep for our enemies and curse the Military; you have that luxury. Democrats have the luxury of not knowing what we know: that our enemies death, while tragic, probably saved lives and that the military%u2019s existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to democrates, saves lives. Democrates don''t want the truth because deep down in places they don''t talk about at parties in Georgetown they want republicans on that wall, you need republicans on that wall.

Republicans use words like honor, code, loyalty. Republicans use them as the backbone of a life trying to defend something. Democrats use them as a punchline. We have neither the time nor the inclination to explain Defense to a democrat who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom Republicans provide and then questions the manner in which we provide it. We would rather democrates just said "thank you," and went on your way. Otherwise, we suggest that democrats pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, we don''t give a ***!! what democrats think!

You want the truth! You can''t handle the truth!